According to an analysis from LinkedIn's Economic Graph team, the rate of people quitting their jobs after less than a year in their position is growing—but the health care industry has seen the exact opposite since January, George Anders reports for LinkedIn.

The industries seeing people quit quickly

For their analysis, LinkedIn calculated a Short Tenure Rate (STR) for various industries. The STR is used calculate the fraction of positions held by LinkedIn members for less than a year. The researchers then analyzed the year-over-year changes in STR to account for seasonable jobs, internships, and more.

The STR in the United States started rising in August 2021, Anders reports, and peaked in March of this year at a 9.7% year-to-year increase.

Certain industries are seeing higher STR growth than others, Anders reports. The arts and recreation industry, for example, saw an 11.63% STR increase year-to-year in August. STR rates are also increasing for workers in traditionally white-collar jobs, like tech, financial services, and professional services.

What's happening in health care

Anders notes that the health care industry has not seen the same increase in STR rates. STR rates in health care peaked in September 2021 with a year-to-year increase of 9.4%, but since January, those STR rates have been dropping.

Early in the Covid-19 pandemic, many health care workers—especially nurses—"left the industry in droves after sacrificing their health and wellbeing in understaffed, deteriorating working conditions while feeling underpaid," Anders reports.

"Inflation has driven our workforce to seek employment that can and will pay higher wages," said Tony Strange, CEO of Aveanna Healthcare, on an earnings call in August. "We need to increase caregiver wages on average 15% to 25%." Anders reports that similar pledges could be contributing to health care workers staying on at their positions elsewhere as well.

"When you look at the jobs that are having trouble hiring, it's the ones with really long hours, inflexible schedules, not great pay, and limited benefits," said Paige Ouimet, a finance professor at the University of North Carolina. Those factors also contribute to how quickly employees quit.

"Running your workers—asking them to do 20% to 30% more because you're short staffed—is very much a short-term strategy," Ouimet said. "You're going to keep losing people." (Anders, LinkedIn, 9/28)