Mike Rowe on Workers Quitting Jobs at Record Levels: 'I've Never Seen Anything Like It'

“Dirty Jobs” host Mike Rowe on Wednesday reacted to a jobs report showing 4.5 million Americans quit their jobs in the month of November.

Rowe told Fox Business Network’s “Varney & Company” that he has “never seen anything like this,” adding he has been hearing from all sorts of different industries that they are “struggling mightily to recruit.”

“From my position as a guy who runs a foundation that’s focused on debunking stigmas and stereotypes around the skilled trades, I’ve never seen anything like this,” Rowe stated. “Not a week goes by where my foundation doesn’t get a phone call from some association in charge of some industry that’s struggling mightily to recruit. Just this month, I’ve heard from the energy industry, the flooring industry — I mean, you just go down the list one after the next — the restaurant industry, the cable and broadband industry, they are all struggling with the same basic problem, and that is how to make a more persuasive case for the opportunities that exist within their industries.”

“[T]hey’re all talking to the same group of people who, for whatever reason, have I think changed their fundamental relationship with the definition of a good job,” he continued. “So, look, this is not just a conversation between a mismatch of skills, although I think the skills gap is a very real thing. This is a conversation about our workforce and the imbalanced nature of it and the way that that is going to impact every single American who shares my addiction to smooth roads, indoor plumbing, affordable electricity, and so forth.”

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