Why Talent Shortages Persist: Moving Beyond The Great Resignation And Quiet Quitting

Talent shortages persist in 2023 despite labor markets showing greater stability. Effective leaders have moved beyond what many called The Great Resignation and Quiet Quitting to address deeper challenges.

First the good news for employers: Pandemic-related job shifts have slowed, labor participation rates have partially crawled back from their historic lows, immigration channels have reopened in many countries, industries that over-hired in recent years reduced their staffs (and thus also reduced competition for talent), and inflation is slowly diminishing in many economies around the world.

But there’s also bad news: Turnover rates and inflation remain high, large percentages of employees remain disengaged and interested in making a move, millions of job openings are un-filled, and productivity rates linger below previous years. Further, significant underlying causes of The Great Resignation and Quiet Quitting remain.

Why?

It’s all about demographic shifts: In many developed economies, large numbers of employees from the out-sized Baby Boomer generation have retired in recent years while members of the Millennial generation have moved past entry-level roles. These shifts have created talent shortages in the comparatively smaller Generation X and Generation Z cadres at the leadership and entry-levels, respectively. Labor economists predict such shortages will represent a permanent market condition, persisting well into the late 2030s or beyond.

Using the United States as an example, WTW’s analysis of U.S. Census and Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows the problem: Despite overall population and labor force growth, the labor force actually shrank from 2010 to 2020 in age groups 16-24 (the historical entry-level talent pool), and 45-54 (the historical leadership talent pool). The data show the same result when analyzed from 2010-2019, demonstrating this problem originated before the pandemic.

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnbremen/2023/01/30/why-talent-shortages-persist-moving-beyond-the-great-resignation-and-quiet-quitting/?sh=4de312377139