Highly skilled specialist workers most likely to be fired in US: Research

Industries with the fewest firings include mining and logging (82,000), the federal government (86,000), and real estate (266,000).

Over 4.6 million members of the professional and business services (PBS) industry were fired from their jobs in 2023 in the US, over two times more than any other industry, according to new research.

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), PBS includes highly skilled workers in business infrastructure and support roles, including accountants, architects, advertisers, lawyers, financial managers, and consultants, among others.

The analysis by telecom provider TollFreeForwarding.com has revealed that PBS industry had a termination rate of 1.7 percent last year. Following PBS, the industries with the most terminations in 2023 were construction (2 million), accommodation and food services (1.9 million), and retail (1.8 million).

Industries with the fewest firings include mining and logging (82,000), the federal government (86,000), and real estate (266,000).

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The average rates for hires, quits, layoffs and discharges, other separations, and total separations are calculated by dividing the sum of the 12 monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) published levels for each data element by the sum of the 12 monthly Current Employment Statistics (CES) published employment levels, and multiplying that quotient by 100.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases annual data. The JOLTS sample size is approximately 21,000 business establishments.

To be sure, PBS had the most terminations, but not the highest termination rate. Construction industry has the highest termination rate of 2.2 percent.

“Reasons for high number of terminations in these jobs include: the end of the great resignation and pandemic-era hiring practices led to large companies like Amazon, Google, and Meta laying off tens of thousands of workers in 2023, many of whom were in business support roles, such as advertisers and human resources personnel,” a spokesperson for TollFreeForwarding.com told Moneycontrol.

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TollFreeForwarding.com also looked into the most common reasons for terminating employees. According to one poll, which asked managers for the reason they last fired an employee, the most common reasons for termination include attitude issues (57 percent) personality issues (41 percent), job performance (40 percent), violation of company policies (31 percent), and requested a raise (23 percent).

While attitude and personality issues include negativity, lack of motivation, resistance to change, and conflicts with colleagues etc, the spokesperson added.