Good News, Economy: Workers Are Quitting

In November, some 1.8% of the workforce, or 2.4 million people, abandoned their jobs, the Labor Department says—and though some were retiring or leaving work behind altogether, most were exiting because they wanted to find, or had already secured, new jobs. It's the highest "quit rate" since the economic recovery began, the Wall Street Journal reports, and it compares to the low of 1.2% that we hit in September 2009. Economists see a high quit rate as a good thing. If people are willing to leave their jobs, it suggests they feel secure about getting new positions. "A pickup in the quit rate … would signal that workers perceive that their chances to be rehired are good," new Fed chair Janet Yellen recently said, per NPR. What's more, it leaves a spot for someone else to take. New figures tomorrow are expected to show the rate climbed even further in December. (More economy stories.)