Five percent of unvaccinated adults said they quit their jobs because of a vaccine mandate, according to a survey published by the Kaiser Family Foundation on Thursday.
This early reading about whether workers will actually leave their jobs due to mandates comes as more employers demand shots. A quarter of workers surveyed by the KFF in October said their employer required them to be vaccinated, up from 9 percent in June and 19 percent last month.
President Joe Biden in September announced a mandate for companies with 100 or more employees to ensure workers are vaccinated against Covid-19 or tested weekly for the virus. It is estimated that the mandate, which is currently under review, covers nearly two-thirds of the private sector workforce once it is implemented. The Kaiser survey only asked if people quit because of a vaccine requirement, not a requirement for a vaccine with a test option.
The Kaiser survey showed that more than a third of unvaccinated workers said they would quit work rather than comply with a vaccine or mandate testing, a share that jumps to 72 percent if the option of testing is not offered. But since the nationwide mandate has not been formally implemented by the Department of Labor, it remains to be seen what percentage of workers will quit when a broader segment of the American workforce is covered.
“Right now, only a quarter of workers say their employer has asked them to get a vaccine, so those workers are still supposed to quit their jobs,” said Lunna Lopes, senior survey analyst at the Kaiser Family Foundation. . However, Lopez said, the survey results provide a “sense of people’s attitudes” toward the requirements.
The National Association of Manufacturers, in a letter to the federal government last week, said losing even a small share of workers could have serious consequences for some of its member companies.
Robyn Boerstling, a senior lobbyist for the Manufacturers Group wrote: “In particularly small facilities with no more than 100 employees, the departure of a single highly valued member of the team can lead to production challenges if not managed or Plan it appropriately. “For larger companies, losing 1 percent of the production team can have operational consequences due to the specialized nature of a skilled manufacturing worker.”
An internal survey from U.S. Trucking Federations estimates that carriers subject to the mandate will lose about 74 percent of unvaccinated employees, or 37 percent of their total workforce, due to retirements, resignations or employee shifts to work at smaller companies not covered by the mandate. . However, this survey assumes that the share of respondents who said they will retire will do so when the time comes, the trade group said in a letter sent last Thursday to the Office of Management and Budget, which is reviewing the rule for whites. a house.
When asked if drivers are actually leaving the workforce, Jeremy Kirkpatrick, the union’s director of strategic communications, said it was too early to tell because the rule had not yet been announced.
“We’re on hold and watch now,” Kirkpatrick wrote in an email to CNBC.
The Kaiser survey also indicates that most unvaccinated workers will not quit completely if faced with delegation. About 6 in 10 said they would likely apply for a religious, medical or other exemption if their employer required them to get a vaccine.
“There are a lot of options that people will try to exhaust before they leave a job,” said Lopez, a KFF analyst.
Roughly 58 percent of the U.S. population has been fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including nearly 70 percent of adults.
