ABS figures show more Australians joining the Great Resignation

The pandemic dented workers’ interest in switching jobs, but now they’re increasingly keen to move on.

Back to the office – or not? Picture: David Clark

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that while the Great Resignation was slow to gather pace here, during the past few months it has accelerated with an extra 100,000 people seeking to switch jobs compared with three years ago.

The latest ABS figures for February this year show that those changing jobs or seeking other employment represent about 5.5 per cent of those in work, compared with 4.8 per cent in February 2019.

The impact of Covid on traditional rates of resignations is clear from the figures: while in February 2020, just before the pandemic hit, about 5 per cent of people were switching jobs, this dropped dramatically across the next three months and by the end of May 2020 only 3.7 per cent of those in jobs were brave enough to seek other employment. As the lockdowns eased, employees gained more leverage, and by February last year the rate had returned to 5 per cent. As the lack of labour became obvious last year, the numbers prepared to look for new opportunities increased, reaching 5.5 per cent (more than 700,000 people) last November and remaining stable this year.

The ABS figures for February this year show almost 13 million people in work in Australia (12,789,200 to be precise) and that’s more than 500,000 more than three years ago.

Reasons for switching jobs vary, but about 139,000 people say they are resigning for family, study or travel reasons – the highest figure in the past three years and more than double the numbers in mid-2020.

The tightest labour market in more than 50 years – with only 4 per cent unemployment – has given employees significant leverage in looking for promotions or pay rises within their companies or looking outside for more opportunities.

A sense of just how much leverage employees can apply is apparent from the ratio of unemployed people to job vacancies: in February there were only 1.3 unemployed Australians for every vacancy.

HELEN TRINCA