Amid 'Great Resignation' WA Struggling the Least: Study

OLYMPIA — If you've been to restaurants or out shopping since 2020, you've probably come across a sign or two pasted in a window, complaining about staffing shortages and that "no one wants to work anymore". Much has been said about the so-called "great resignation", that employees, fed up with stagnant wages and poor benefits, are walking out of their jobs and refusing work in droves.

That may be true in some places, but a new study says that Washington employers, by-and-large, are managing to hire employees just fine.

The study, created by analysts at WalletHub, measured the rate of job openings for the latest month, and compared with job openings from a year ago, to see which states were struggling to find new hires. And while some states certainly are struggling — like Vermont, where the job openings rate is a whopping 8.9 percent — Washington employers are actually struggling the least out of all 50 states. In fact, Washington's job opening rate actually improved, dropping from 5.69 percent a year ago to 5 percent even last month.

One reason the great resignation isn't hitting Washington as hard as other states could be the Evergreen State's higher minimum wage. Washington's minimum wage is now $14.49 an hour, nearly double the federal minimum wage of $7.25, meaning low-paid workers might have less incentive to walk out.

"I believe that the most difficult jobs to fill these days either require skills that most people lack (knowledge of industrial chemistry, for example) or do not offer enough in terms of earnings, benefits, and job satisfaction," said Priscilla Murolo, a professor with Sarah Lawrence College. "Bear in mind as well that ‘essential workers’ have been overrepresented in the ranks of people killed or seriously disabled by COVID."

Another reason Washington is doing okay, could have to do with the state's relatively low COVID-19 case counts.

"Some jobs, especially those that are public-facing, are perceived to be so hazardous or unpleasant that workers are no longer willing to stay, even at higher wages," said University of Virginia Professor Teresa A. Sullivan. "Fear of contracting COVID, abuse from customers, frustration over unavailable inventory, and other supply-chain issues have all made retail, hospitality, and some health care jobs much less attractive."

Here are the 10 states struggling the least with hiring:

1. Washington
2. Delaware
3. New York
4. Kansas
5. Connecticut
6. California
7. Texas
8. Arkansas
9. Illinois
10. Tennessee

Though not a state, the District of Columbia actually outpaced all 50 states, with a job opening rate of just 4.10 percent.

Here are the 10 states struggling the most with hiring:

1. Alaska
2. Vermont
3. Wyoming
4. New Hampshire
5. Montana
6. Hawaii
7. Georgia
8. Pennsylvania
9. South Carolina
10. Maine

>> Read the full study from WalletHub.