Did the Great Resignation Backfire?

People seem to be caught in the middle: Not wanting the jobs they had, and unable to find better options

Almost 0.5 billion people lost jobs during the pandemic, hundreds of millions were furloughed, and many blue and white-collar workers quit their jobs without a clear plan. This phenomenon has been referred to as “The Great Resignation”, a term coined by Anthony Klotz, a professor at Texas A&M.

People wanted to redefine their relationship with work, carve out careers on their terms, and do stuff they were passionate about, gaining autonomy, mastery, and purpose along the way. The broader picture still looks good. The creator economy will be worth $487 Billion by 2027. This means there is still a lot of untapped potential in self-directed, internet-enabled careers. Companies like Stripe aim to increase the GDP of the internet, and they are well on course to achieve their mission.

That said, cracks seem to be appearing in the great resignation thesis. Job market liquidity remains higher than pre-pandemic levels, but the extreme employee leverage is waning. Economists predict that the opportunity for significant wage gains and job mobility will decrease over time. **There is some debate about it and we explore it in the podcast below.