Jeff Cox
@JEFF.COX.7528
@JEFFCOXCNBCCOM

KEY POINTS

• A record 4.5 million workers quit their jobs in November, while job openings declined to 10.6 million.
• Restaurant and health-care workers were responsible for much of the surge in “quits.”
• Manufacturing activity also expanded in December, but less than expected, according to the latest ISM report.

Workers quit their jobs in record numbers in November while the total employment openings pulled back a bit, the Labor Department reported Tuesday.

The so-called quits level surged to 4.53 million for the month, according to the department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. That represented an 8.9% increase from October and broke September’s high-water mark of 4.36 million. As a percentage of the workforce, the quits rate of 3% matched September’s mark.

In a phenomenon that has been labeled the Great Resignation, workers have been leaving their positions partly in response to increased mobility in the labor market as job openings strongly outnumber those looking for work. Read More…