Report: SC has some of the highest resignation rates in US

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A new study shows a record 8.8 million Americans quit their jobs in November and December, but S.C. businesses were already losing employees.

The state saw the third-lowest increase in average monthly resignation rates from 2020 to 2021, according to CareerCloud’s COVID-19, Jobs and the Great Resignation analysis, drawn from Bureau of Labor Statistics Business Response survey results and U.S. Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey data.

South Carolina’s resignation rate increased by 19% between 2020 and 2021, according to the study.

In 2021, the Palmetto State had the 10^th highest resignation rate in the nation after Alaska, Nevada, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, Hawaii, North Carolina and Wyoming, according to the human resource consultant's study.

A record 10.9 million jobs have remained unfilled across the country since September — enough to employ every unemployed American, according to the study. Last year, the U.S. fielded a 74% increase in resignation rates, as an average of 4 million Americans quit their jobs each month, the study said.

Only New Jersey at 18% and Missouri at 19% reported lower resignation rate increases than the Palmetto State, which was preceded by Tennessee at 20% and Texas, Nebraska, Delaware and West Virginia at 21%, according to the study. New Hampshire experienced the highest increases in resignations at 55%, followed by Massachusetts at 46%, Vermont at 45% and Minnesota at 41%.

While data trends differ from state to state, CareerCloud argues that on a national level, evidence suggests robust business response may have led to lower quit rates.

Among the 10 states with the lowest quit rates for 2021, three were on the top 10 list for wage increases, five were on the top 10 list for flexible hours, six for the top 10 list for telework options and eight were among the top 10 states with enhanced health and safety requirements, the report said.

In the Palmetto State, 12.3% of the labor force worked solely from home from July to September 2021. CareerCloud researchers did not give South Carolina high marks for its health and safety, telework, workplace flexibility or wages response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which ranked as the 25^th most responsive.