As we celebrate our second Labor Day in a pandemic, there are still many unknowns about when employment will return to pre-COVID levels.

Although infections continue to rise in many states, some businesses are reopening and consumers are spending.

The pandemic still influences the labor market even though we are in economic recovery. In this environment, COVID hindrances are creating a hot labor market.

Not only are employers hiring more people because of increased demand for their goods and services, but they are also experiencing an elevated rate of workers quitting as they leave for alternative opportunities or to stay at home due to COVID concerns.

It’s not unusual for the number of people quitting their jobs to decline during a recession because of the uncertainty around how long the downturn will last and how it will affect the hiring plans of businesses.

The quits rate typically increases only gradually after a recession ends. But that’s not what happened after the COVID recession ended in April 2020.

According to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the quits rate fell to 1.6% of total employment in April 2020 and then rose to a record 2.8% or 4.0 million people in April 2021.

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