"Great Resignation" Isn't What People Think It is

President Biden's Labor secretary on Friday brushed off concerns about the so-called "Great Resignation" while touting broad efforts to promote job growth in the second year of the Biden administration.

Labor Secretary Marty Walsh maintained in a wide-ranging interview with The Hill that Americans "want to go to work," even as the U.S. experiences a high quit rate and American workers gain new leverage during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I think the key of 2022 is going to be, honestly, focusing on getting people back to work,” Walsh said.

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Edit Note: The last time there were more jobs than employees was a good thing, and that was when Bill Clinton was in office in the 1990s. People were hired, trained and paid more and got better benefits and were able to negotiate themselves into better positions without a Union callout. 

Working during the age of trumpism was not only stressful and painful, but had a net merit of zero return on the investment. In the long run, there should never be "enough" employees, or an overflow of employees - it gives corporations too much of an advantage that they don't need to have. 

Many people have actually thrown in the towel in an attempt to start their own businesses, or even go back to school; and they are off to other ventures that are more conducive to their own personal lifestyles. Most people are in a "work for self" state of mind, where 'working for others' is now requiring independent contractor relationships with LLCs instead of hiring individuals to work on a boxed-in hourly treadmill. Get used to signing contracts with companies instead of hiring people who understand that the words "and other duties as assigned" means they may have to do things they aren't being paid for.

This is where companies need to learn a hard lesson about the way they treat their employees and how much they are willing to pay for the services. People are beginning to understand that maintaining a job costs money (an average of $60-$150 a day, depending) and it's usually more per day to keep a job than they are getting in actual pay. If your job costs you $75 a day and your pay is $60 per day, you lose $15 a day in costs alone. 

Moment of truth ... [people ARE working right now] ... they just went in a different non-trad direction that isn't on the Labor Department radar, and shouldn't be.