Hawaii sees rise in people interested in quitting their jobs

Hawaii might be primed to see the highest number of workers quitting their jobs in 2024.

A new study from AI productivity platform Plus Docs revealed Hawaii employees were 79 percent more likely to quit their jobs than the national average.

This was based on Google keyword data, encompassing phrases like “I want to leave my job,” and “signs you should quit,” across the country.

Residents in Hawaii searched for these types of keywords 288 times per month per 100,000 people, which was nearly 100 percent higher than the average.

For many who search these keywords, though, it might reflect a larger desire to leave their current job rather than any actual plans, said Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor at the University of Tennessee at Martin.

“I don’t think it’s a situation of people leaving the workforce, but rather one of asking the question, ‘Can this job provide for me financially given the more expensive reality we find ourselves in?’” Beene told Newsweek. “Reality has set in over the past year that inflation may be cooling, but prices aren’t descending any time soon.”

Bryan Driscoll, an HR consultant, said Hawaii’s tourism-driven economy created a “perfect storm” of low wages, high cost of living and a constant influx of visitors benefiting larger corporations over individual workers.

“Workers realize they’re being squeezed and they deserve better,” Driscoll told Newsweek. “The spike in searches likely mirrors a growing frustration that extends far beyond the data, even if only a small percentage of workers follow through in reality. This shows a workforce waking up to the fact that their labor is being exploited.”

Nationally, Hawaii stands in the middle for average annual salary. According to ZipRecruiter, the average is $52,828 in the tropical state, compared to the national average of $59,384 for the last quarter of 2023.

Americans were most likely to search for “letter of resignation,” with 1,222 average monthly searches.

States that had similar levels of unhappy workers included Nevada, with an average of 228 searches per 100,000 people, and Maryland, where workers were 29 percent more likely than the national average to search the select keywords.

“This campaign highlights the states where this trend is most likely to be seen in the coming months; Hawaii, Nevada, and Maryland are seemingly home to the most workers who are ready to make this change in their careers,” Daniel Li, CEO and co-founder of Plus Docs, said in a statement.

New York, which has experienced a surge in workers quitting already this year, also had high levels of searches, at 26 percent above the national benchmark. Florida saw similar search numbers, at 25 percent more likely to search related to job resignations.

Kentucky, Utah and Idaho saw the lowest number of searches for resignation-related key terms, with workers between 42 and 49 percent less likely to make the search.

Employees who do end up submitting a letter of resignation should take care to include a thank you note, Li said.

“This is because, when applying for a new job, many employees rely on their previous places of work for a recommendation, and it is never a good idea to burn any bridges,” Li said.

If mass resignations do end up occurring in Hawaii and other states, Driscoll said it would likely send shockwaves through the economy.

“Businesses that can’t or won’t pay their workers a living wage will be the hardest hit and they should be,” Driscoll said. “Maybe this will finally push corporations in Hawaii to reevaluate how they treat their workforce.”