‘Great resignation’ sends UK quit rate to highest since 2009

Brits are quitting their jobs at a rate not seen in over a decade, new data shows, highlighting the struggles companies are facing when it comes to staff.

Sanjay Raja, chief UK economist at Deutsche Bank, said analysis of official data suggests people are resigning at the highest rate since 2009 with “historically elevated levels of workers leaving the labour market entirely”.

The data shows that the so-called “Great Resignation” happening around the world in the wake of the pandemic is not just anecdotal. In the US, where the government produces official data on the so-called ‘quit rate’, a record 4.5 million people resigned in November.

Employers across the UK complain of struggling to both hang on to and recruit staff. Redundancies in the UK are at their lowest level since the mid-1990s, while the level of open vacancies is the highest on record.