The Great Resignation is growing larger as more and more Americans are quitting their jobs.
On Monday night, we told you about a television news producer who decided to get out of the business so he could live out his dreams.
But not everyone has their eyes on the exit door. One local teacher tells us he’s not going anywhere despite the race to leave the rat race behind.
“I feel like we are doing something that we love and we are going to stick with it no matter what,” Richard Almaraz, an English teacher at H.M. King High School in Kingsville, told us.
Alamaraz, who also coaches soccer, says there’s no way he’d ditch school for something else and the thought really hadn’t crossed his mind.
"I love what I do to even think about that,” he said. That's despite the few perks that come with the job, but at the same time never having to think about getting laid off.
"There has always been a teacher shortage,” he reminded us. Now with some new teachers making more money than veteran teachers due to the pandemic, some teachers who’ve worked for years are putting in their notice.
"Many leaders (employers) are almost feeling like they're hostages,” Krister Ungerbock told us. He’s a best-selling author and global leadership expert, not to mention a former well-known CEO.
Before even contemplating a career change, he advises people to ask themselves, 'What can I do to make my current job better?'
Ungerbock says employees should try to negotiate with their employers before handing in their resignation, though with so many people quitting, he says practically everyone will see the trickle-down affect.
When asked how this would affect the consumer, Ungerbock says, "I think the biggest risk is that if wages go up significantly, then it's going to translate into inflation. I think it's also going to be, when we look at business to business, just a lower service level that we're able to get.”
As for Almaraz, he's living out his dream and confident he'll be teaching for a long time.
"When it comes to being a teacher, I guess there's a lot of job security,” he said.
With the Great Resignation still growing, there are jobs where employers need to hire people right away. They include home health aides, fast food workers, and general laborers. The median salary for those industries is $30,000 a year.
