By: Grace Cronin

What is the Great Resignation? A term recently coined to describe the phenomenon of large groups of people, mainly in the U.S., quitting their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Unfortunately, the supply chain industry is not immune from this phenomenon, and many fear it only adds to the current Supply Chain Crisis.  

The Great Resignation was an idea created by an esteemed Texas A&M Professor as the pandemic has been developing, who noticed the trends of companies and the lack of employees. Currently, companies have hit their highest numbers of open positions in the U.S, and trends have been studied and noted. According to Ian Cook and their team, companies have reported that “Resignation rates are highest among mid-career employees”, and the technology and healthcare field have been hit the hardest.

Certainly, many were laid off at the beginning of the pandemic. Still, with the market making an effort to slowly turn in the positive, employees are now rethinking their career decisions. 

The logistics industry has seen a massive hit with the great resignation, the trucking industry is short about 80,000 employees, and our nation’s biggest ports, LA & Long Beach have consistently seen huge congestion in delays mostly due to staffing issues, among much more.  The need for international cargo and importing into the U.S will always be in demand, and with COVID and new variants popping up, companies are doing everything they can to keep up with the demand.