Description
As the COVID-19 pandemic waned and global economy commenced return to “normal,” it became obvious that workers were not rushing back to their old jobs, especially in the United States. Dubbed “The Great Resignation” crisis, this lack of enthusiasm for work was explained by the pandemic-induced re-valorization of life’s priorities, romanticizing survival and lessons drawn from hardship. At the same time, the tightening of the labor market and concurrent wage increases were cited as key reasons behind the rising inflation in the U.S., justifying Federal Reserve’s change in interest rate policies. Totally overlooked were the gendered dynamics of “The Great Resignation” and the fact that the lowest returns to work in the U.S. were in sectors with the highest percentage of female labor force – food and accommodation, retail, and health care. In this paper we evidence this gendered nature of “The Great Resignation Crisis” in the U.S., compare it with re-employment trends in the EU and China, and analyze its interplay with gender-blind policies designed to address it. We argue that the evidence for “The Great Resignation” is rather thin on the ground. Instead, “the crisis” in the U.S. labor market overestimated workers empowerment, shifted attention away from the devastating effects of the pandemic on women and minorities, and created a pretext for “recovery” which ignores their needs.
