These are the States Where Quit Rates are Falling the Fastest
Monday, November 13th, 2023
Massachusetts is the state where employment quit rates are falling the fastest, a new study has found.
Resume specialists ResumeBlaze analyzed U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data on the level of quit rates nationwide during July 2022 and July 2023 to reveal which states have seen the largest decrease in people quitting their jobs.
Across America, quit rates fell by 11.54% between July 2022 and July 2023, from 2.6 to 2.3. This means around one of every 43 employed people quit their jobs during July 2023. Approximately 20 states performed better than the national average, with some quit rates falling by over 30%.
The study found that Massachusetts has the fastest-falling quit rate in the country. Between July 2022 and July 2023, the quit rate fell from 2.5 to 1.3, a huge 48% decline. During July 2023, around 51,000 workers quit their jobs state-wide, a dramatic fall from the 93,000 employees who left their jobs during the same month in 2022. Massachusetts also had the lowest quit rate of any state in the country in July 2023, with just one in every 76 employees quitting their job.
Missouri has the second fastest-falling quit rate in the country. While around 100,000 workers quit their job in July 2022, the number fell to 70,000 in July 2023. These figures saw the quit rate drop from 3.4 to 2.3, representing a fall of 32.35%.
With quit rates falling by over 30%, Kansas secured third spot in the study. The quit rate sat at 3.1 in July 2022, with 44,000 workers leaving employment during this month. During the same month of 2023, the rate had lowered to 2.1, a 32.26% decrease. The month of July 2023 saw 31,000 workers quit, with one in every 47 employed people in the state leaving a job during this month.
Despite having the largest quit rate in the country in July 2022, Georgia is now the state with the fourth fastest-falling quit rate. While July 2022 saw one in every 25 workers leave a job, these numbers have fallen by 28.21%. During July 2023, around 135,000 quits were reported, representing a huge drop from last year and securing Georgia’s place among America’s fastest-falling quit rates.
Maine rounded out the top five. A total of 12,000 workers quit their jobs in July 2023, a large decrease from the 16,000 quits that were reported in July 2022. The rate of quits fell by 24% percent, with Maine performing twice as well as the national average.
Table: States with the fastest-falling quit rates
|
Ranking
|
State
|
July 2022 quit rate
|
July 2023 quit rate
|
Percentage decrease
|
|
1
|
Massachusetts
|
2.5
|
1.3
|
48%
|
|
2
|
Missouri
|
3.4
|
2.3
|
32.35%
|
|
3
|
Kansas
|
3.1
|
2.1
|
32.26%
|
|
4
|
Georgia
|
3.9
|
2.8
|
28.21%
|
|
5
|
Maine
|
2.5
|
1.9
|
24%
|
|
6
|
Rhode Island
|
2.6
|
2
|
23.08%
|
|
7
|
California
|
2.2
|
1.7
|
22.73%
|
|
8
|
Colorado
|
2.7
|
2.1
|
22.22%
|
|
9
|
Arizona
|
3.6
|
2.9
|
19.44%
|
|
10
|
Nevada
|
3.1
|
2.5
|
19.35%
|
Rhode Island is one of three Northeastern states to be named among the spots with the fastest-falling quit rates. Fewer workers are leaving their jobs in the state, with quits falling from 13,000 to 10,000 between July 2022 and July 2023. During this period, the quit rate has dropped by 23.08%, positioning Rhode Island as the state with the sixth fastest-falling quit rate overall.
The most populated state to secure a spot in the ranking, California has the seventh fastest-falling quit rate in America. Throughout July 2023, 309,000 quits were recorded, falling drastically from 398,000 quits estimated in July 2022. The quit rate fell from 2.2 to 1.7 during this time, representing a large drop of 22.73%.
Colorado, Arizona, and Nevada topped out the list of states with the fastest-falling quit rates. The rate of quits in each state has fallen by 22.22%, 19.44%, and 19.35%, respectively, between July 2022 and July 2023.
Darren Shafae, founder and lead developer at ResumeBlaze, commented on the research: “It is promising to notice quit levels falling at interesting rates across the country, with only four states experiencing a higher quit rate than the same time last year.”
“With Americans becoming more settled in new careers and employers maintaining flexibility with remote working options, it’s interesting to see quit rates returning to pre-pandemic levels as the job market continues to cool across the nation.”
