The great resignation

The effects of COVID-19 have created long lasting effects across the country. One of them is the labor shortage. The pandemic caused a major disruption in America’s labor force, which many refer to as “The Great Resignation.”

According to the United States Chamber of Commerce, 47 million workers quit their jobs in order to look for an improved work-life balance and flexibility, increased compensation, and a strong company culture. According to the Labor Department, this is the highest in records since 2000.

One of the states affected by this major disruption is Illinois. In November 2021, 192,000 people quit their jobs in Illinois, which is an increase of 53.6 percent from the previous year. Moreover, according to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the total number of monthly quits in the state is equal to 3.3 percent of the total workforce.

In Illinois, one of the counties that is experiencing labor shortage is Champaign. Between March and April of 2020, 10,000 workers left the workforce. According to Stacy Rachel, Human Resources Specialist for the City of Champaign, the current labor market has affected their ability to recruit for and fill certain vacant positions in Champaign.

“Prior to the pandemic, we had a number of well qualified applications submitted for most of the postings that we issued,” Rachel says. “In the past year, we’ve experienced significant declines in the number of qualified applicants for positions across the board.”

Moreover, according to Rachel, candidates that are applying to jobs have changed their behavior drastically, which puts them in a difficult position.

“Candidates' behaviors have changed as more candidates are voluntarily withdrawing from consideration,” Rachel says. “They’re not following through with the process in greater numbers than we have experienced previously.”

According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, jobs that require in-person attendance and traditionally have lower wages, have had a more difficult time retaining workers, such as restaurants. The leisure and hospitality industry had the highest quit rate since July 2021, which was above 5.4 percent. Fiesta Cafe, a restaurant located in Champaign, has felt the effect.

Ron Haddix, the owner of Fiesta Cafe, mentions that they don't have enough quality workers, especially those that have worked in food service before. Due to the labor shortage, they don’t have enough employees to train ones that haven’t had experience. Despite this issue that they’re encountering, they’re still open every day from 11 am to 11 pm.

“We’re open all the time. Everybody is just working harder,” Haddix says.

Cracked, a restaurant in Champaign, is also experiencing the same situation. According to the owner Daniel Krause, things have gotten better over the past few months. However, the problem still exists. Due to this, Krause has put a help wanted sign outside their window to attract potential employees.

Despite the efforts to attract employees, the labor issue is expected to continue for them. According to the National Restaurant Association, they don’t anticipate the labor shortage issue improving in 2022, which is stated in their 2022 report.

Healthcare is another industry that's being affected by the labor shortage. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce website mentions that healthcare sectors have maintained relatively low quit rates; however, this sector is the one with the highest number of job openings.

Deborah McCarter, Chief Nursing Officer at OSF Heart of Mary, mentions that they’ve been in a nursing shortage for years. Nonetheless, they’ve seen an increase in recent months due to COVID-19. They’re not only short on nurses; however, in all areas of healthcare, such as in their dietary and EBS department.

“Many surveys indicate that 20 percent to 50 percent of physicians and nurses are ready to quit in the next year,” McCarter says. “This stems from the problems relating to COVID-19.”

Due to various vacancies that they have, McCarter mentions that they always have to plan ahead and look at their resources. For instance, they might use contract labor to fill those vacancies, or they might ask other colleagues for help.

“We will reach out to colleagues at other OSF facilities,” McCarter says. “We will ask them, ‘Can you support us?’”

McCarter mentions that patient care is also expected to increase over the next few years, which will be difficult to address if this issue continues to persist.

“We will see an increased patient demand due to the aging population in the next three years,” McCarter says. “We’ve known this for the past several years.”

According to Rachel, there are efforts to recruit and retain employees in Champaign in order to address the issue.

“We’re evaluating our recruitment and advertising strategies. We’re looking for ways to reach more potential applicants and get the word out a little bit more broadly about our job opportunities,” Rachel says.

It’s important to note that this labor shortage issue isn’t entirely a bad thing. According to Andrew Weaver, an associate professor in the School of Labor and Employment Relations at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), the labor shortage provides opportunities for employers to negotiate their pay, or benefits.

“When we have a tight labor market, it permits workers to have a little bit more bargaining power,” Weaver says.

As the year draws to an end, McCarter mentions that OSF Heart of Mary is going to keep the labor shortage issue on top of mind.

“We look at our staffing in advance and on a daily basis because we try to stay ahead of it,” McCarter says. “Retaining the great staff that we have is another priority of ours.”

Nonetheless, Eliza Forsythe, an assistant professor in the School of Labor and Employment Relations at UIUC, mentions that although things have improved since the pandemic, worrying signs remain.

“Although the unemployment rate has recovered to pre-pandemic levels, the stock of individuals who remain non-employed continues to be elevated,” Forsythe says.

The Society for Human Resource Management also mentions that a survey conducted by the National Association for Business Economics relieved that labor constraints aren’t likely to go away anytime soon. Out of those in the survey, only 6 percent expected the labor shortage to diminish.

According to Rachel, she does see the labor shortage intensifying in the near future.

“I see that the current recruitment and hiring challenges that we’re experiencing will continue, and maybe even intensify for certain positions in the future,” Rachel says. “I believe that this has the potential to result in long term systematic changes to our recruitment and hiring policies. Trying to work through the current situation has made us more creative and flexible.”