BLS: 16,000 R.I. workers quit in November, up 60% year over year

NEW US BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS data shows 16,000 Rhode Island workers quit their jobs in November, a 60% increase over a year prior. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

PROVIDENCE – Anthony Tarro doesn’t have to wrack his brain to recall the last time a worker quit.

It was five days ago  – a Saturday night, the golden hour of restaurant times – when a dishwasher abandoned his post inside Tarro’s Smithfield eatery, Siena. The worker simply walked out, three hours into his first day, Tarro said.

Employees quitting, even mid-shift, used to be a once-in-a-while occurrence for Tarro’s Italian restaurants. But lately, it’s become more frequent, adding pressure for the workers left to deal with the mounting pile of dishes or whatever extra tasks have been created by workforce shortages. And for Tarro, it’s just another pain point in the mounting list of injuries he’s sustained since COVID-19 began.

A new report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed 16,000 Rhode Island workers quit their jobs in November 2021, the most recent data available. That’s more than two-thirds of the 25,000 area workers who were “separated” from their jobs – which can include those who were laid off or retired – according to the State Job Openings and Labor Turnover report published in January. 

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The latest quit data also marks a 60% increase over November 2020, when the state saw 10,000 workers quit. 

A higher quit rate isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though. In fact, R.I. Department of Labor and Training Director Matthew Weldon said the increase points to an active labor market in which workers have the power to take charge of their professional destinies, leaving one job for another opportunity in a different field or with better pay or benefits.

Further proving his point are the declining state unemployment rate – 4.8% as of December – and strong hiring numbers. The 24,000 workers hired across the Ocean State as of November was a slight decrease from the 25,000 the month prior, but still 3,000 more than the monthly hiring numbers from a year prior.

Weldon also pointed out that it’s no longer just white-collar workers changing jobs, but also those in lower-wage and entry-level jobs as well who are finding better opportunities. And when the latter quit, that opens up a job for someone else fresh to the job market.

Still, higher quit rates are not without challenges, particularly for the hospitality and food services industries which have not seen the same post-pandemic recovery as others.

Sarah Bratko, senior vice president  and general counsel for the Rhode Island Hospitality Association, said losing workers is the latest in a seemingly never-ending series of crises.

Many industry employees have simply reached their breaking point after two years of working under high-stress, high-stakes conditions in an already fast-paced and stressful industry. That these workers are often younger and just starting their careers often makes them less loyal to staying, too.

“When there’s an 18-year-old hostess getting yelled at by a customer because he doesn’t want to wear a mask, I can’t blame her for not wanting to stay,” Bratko said.

Gov. Daniel J. McKee’s decision to end the state mask mandate on Feb. 11 will certainly ease some of the tension stemming from COVID-related rules, Bratko said. But it doesn’t do much for the worker shortage the hospitality industry has been grappling with long before COVID-19 became a household name.

Low wages, lack of benefits and erratic schedules are said to be reasons why the industry has struggled to keep and grow its workforce, though the latest labor shortages have prompted many employers to raise pay “significantly” to keep up with the competition, Bratko said.

The Hospitality Association is also working with the state health insurance marketplace, HealthSource RI, to help improve affordable healthcare options for industry workers as well as offering free training programs and resources like mental health services for people who work for its member businesses, Bratko said. 

Still, it’s hard to compete with other industries where companies offer $20 hourly wages, said Tarro. He, too, has raised starting hourly pay for entry-level jobs like hostessing and dishwashing – from $12 or $13 per hour to $15 or $16 – but didn’t think it made much of a difference.

“We’re losing employees because the grass is greener elsewhere,” Tarro said. 

Often, it seems like that greener grass is at manufacturing companies, which have not experienced the same degree of quitting, according to Dave Chenevert, executive director of the Rhode Island Manufacturers Association. Local manufacturers are still struggling to retain workers, but because their aging workers are retiring, not because they’re quitting to pursue other jobs, Chenevert said.

“Our benefits are too good and our wages are too high,” Chenevert said. 

Both DLT and the Hospitality Association are aiming to bolster their workforce training programs that will equip a new set of employees to fill the spots left by others who quit. Tarro, meanwhile, was focused on creating the kind of positive, well-paid environment where workers would want to stay.

“When you have happy employees, you have a happy facility,” he said.

Nancy Lavin is a staff writer for the PBN. Contact her at Lavin@PBN.com.

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