Over the last several years, the antiwork movement has exploded in popularity.
While the concept of antiwork has been around for awhile, the pandemic and other economic trends have accelerated the movement’s growth.
As a result, today we will be looking at:
- What is the antiwork movement?
- What economic trends are accelerating the antiwork movement?
- What does the antiwork movement mean for you?
Let’s dive in.
What is the Antiwork Movement?
In a nutshell, the antiwork movement represents a shift in how individuals view the role that working plays in their lives.
More specifically, the work that we do should enable our unalienable right to our pursuit of happiness.
In a perfect world, there would be a balance between these two forces.
However, that is not the case today.
Instead, the antiwork movement represents a symptom that society is prioritizing work over everything else.
We can see this manifesting itself in several ways:
- Workers feeling overworked, underappreciated, underpaid
- Workers experiencing money dysmorphia
- Workers experiencing mental burnout
- Management’s lack of empathy or care about employee’s well-being
- Companies providing lackluster benefits (i.e. no vacation, opportunities for advancement, etc.)
If you have experienced any of the above, you are not alone.
The antiwork movement’s subreddit is growing exponentially with more and more people sharing their stories and empowering others to speak up against toxic working conditions.
Economic Trends Accelerating the Antiwork Movement
To better understand what is driving the antiwork movement’s massive growth, I compiled and analyzed economic data from several different federal agencies.
My analysis resulted in 7 different data visualizations analyzing short/long term economic trends that are accelerating the antiwork movement.
Note: The data visualizations are interactive; hover over sections of the graphs for more detailed information.
Labor Force Participation, Quits Rates & Job Openings
The beginning of the pandemic resulted in a sharp decrease in the U.S. Labor Force Participation Rate or the percentage of people working + looking for work.
And while there has been a slight rebound, the Labor Force Participation Rate is nowhere near pre-pandemic levels.
The reason why?
- Initial Pandemic-Driven Layoffs
- Americans quitting their jobs in record numbers
- Americans’ working preferences changing
In September 2021 alone, 3% (4.4 M) of the American workforce quit!
When analyzing the data even further, researchers from Goldman Sachs found that “70% of the 5 million people who left the labor force during the pandemic were older than 55 [via retirement].”
And retirements tend to a more permanent type of workforce exit.
The result is a labor shortage: there are now less workers to work the amount of jobs available.
This is consistent with other data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showing that the amount of job openings have skyrocketed.
In October 2021 alone, there were over 11 million job openings in the United States.
And these jobs openings will not be filled easily.
That is because from an antiwork perspective, worker’s preferences are changing.
More specifically, workers are looking for:
- Decreased commute times
- Decreased potential exposure to the coronavirus
- More job flexibility
- More meaningful work
- More time with the family
This has resulted in what economists are calling the ‘The Great Job Mismatch.’
In other words, the job openings available are simply not the jobs that people want to work.
We can see this on a massive scale shaking up entire industries. This is best illustrated by a recent article in the Wall Street Journal:
A recent ZipRecruiter survey found 70% of job seekers who last worked in the leisure and hospitality industry say they are now looking for work in a different industry. In addition, 55% of job applicants want remote jobs
Wall Street Journal
This has created a unique economic situation where workers are experiencing increased leverage over companies. Companies are now being forced to be more competitive if they want to attract and retain talent.
The perfect environment for the antiwork movement.
Because why continue working a job you hate, when the odds are in your favor of finding a better job that better matches your expectations (i.e. respect, pay, etc.)?
And while no one knows how long these economic conditions will last, Goldman Sachs has acknowledged that the antiwork movement represented a “long-run risk” with getting the labor force participation rate back to pre-pandemic levels.
Wage Growth & Poverty Rate
When adjusting for inflation, there has been negligible growth in the average U.S. hourly wage since 1964.
Furthermore, inflation continues to outpace increases in the federal minimum wage.
This has resulted in research from MIT concluding that “itβs nearly impossible to live on the current federal minimum wage, $7.25.“
Additionally, even if someone were paid a living wage, that living wage can only afford the “barebones cost of housing, food, transportation, and child and health care.”
As a result, wage stagnation combined with persistent inflation has put a strain on household budgets across America. This includes but is not limited to:
- College costs increasing 169% since 1980 (CNBC)
- Medical costs increasing 668.8% from 1979 to 2020 (HRSA)
- Per child spending on childcare increasing approx. 2000% since the 1970s (The Atlantic)
These increasing costs are making it even harder for lower income families to escape poverty.
Throw in a global pandemic, massive layoffs, and limited government assistance and it should be no surprise that the U.S. recorded it’s largest ever increase in poverty in 2020. For the first time in 5 years, the amount of Americans in poverty increased by 0.9% (3.3 million) to 37.2 million.
Company Profits & Wealth Inequality
Despite a record number of Americans in poverty, U.S. corporations recorded a record amount of profits after taxes.
However, as you may suspect, the flow of this capital is unevenly distributed among the different wealth classes.
According to the Federal Reserve, From Q1 2019 – Q1 2021:
- The Bottom 50%’s wealth increased from 1.6% to 2.0% (0.4% increase)
- The Top 1%’s wealth increased from 30.9% to 32.1% (1.2% increase)
Furthermore, the Institute for Policy Studies and Americans for Tax Fairness have calculated that U.S. billionaire wealth has surged by 70% ($2.1 trillion) during the pandemic.
As discussed in the beginning of this article, the antiwork movement is a sign that individuals feel like the current system is not working for them. Despite helping generate these record profits, employees are seeing little to no benefit.
As Lane Kirland once said:
If hard work were such a wonderful thing, surely the rich would have kept it all to themselves.
Lane Kirkland
What does the Antiwork Movement mean for You?
The antiwork movement started a long overdue conversation about the role that work plays in our lives.
Fortunately, as the labor market continues to tighten, American workers have the upper-hand in order to negotiate for better working conditions, wages & benefits.
If your current employer isn’t willing to budge, that’s a sign to say “Bye Felicia” because there are plenty of fish (11 million) in the sea.
Finally, I would 100% recommend checking out the r/antiwork subreddit. If anything, there are no shortage of hilarious quitting stories π
Thank you for reading π
_
Full Disclosure: Nothing on this site should ever be considered advice, research or an invitation to buy or sell securities, please see my βTerms & Conditionsβ page for a full disclaimer