Another 4 million workers quit in the 5th month in a row of record exits, and it shows how the pandemic is still making people rethink what they want out of work and life

• In August, more than 4 million workers quit - marking the fifth month in a row of record exits.
• It's a trend that's only accelerated and shows no signs of stopping as the pandemic continues.

The number of people quitting reached yet another record high in August, with about 4.3 million Americans leaving their jobs behind - especially in retail, food services, and hospitality.

That means nearly 3% of the US workforce quit in August, according to Tuesday's data release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary. It's the fifth month in a row that broke the record - the highest number of departures since the BLS started collecting this data in 2001.

Employers scrambling to hire and bemoaning labor shortages likely won't see relief, as workers show no sign of stopping one of the pandemic's biggest trends: quitting.

Even as the country added 366,000 jobs in August - far below economists' expectations - and 194,000 jobs in September, workers seemed to have no qualms about leaving the jobs they already had. Those smaller gains were driven by the rise of the Delta variant, as the pandemic's hold on the economy and employment continued with increasingly high caseloads. But they also signal that workers are increasingly exercising their power and feel comfortable quitting - which isn't a bad thing economically.

That tracks with who's quitting: It seems that low-paid, mostly in-person roles accounted the largest number of workers quitting. For example, departures were driven by workers leaving accommodations and food services, where the number of workers quitting reached its own series high; the quits rate in that industry was 6.8%, over double the average rate across all industries.

Retail trade also had its own series high, with the quit rate coming in at 4.7%. Both industries rely heavily on in-person service, which has taken its own dip during the pandemic, and both are filled with anecdotes of labor-shortage struggles. Many workers require more - whether it's benefits, higher wages, or better working conditions - to put their lives on the line for those roles, economists have told Insider.

In a survey of 2,099 people by the jobs site Joblist, nearly three-quarters of respondents said they were thinking about leaving their jobs during July, August, or September, Insider's Grace Dean and Madison Hoff reported. That number was the highest for hospitality workers, with 77% thinking about quitting.

Workers quitting can also lead to cyclical short staffing and, in turn, cause burnout among remaining workers. A September note from Bank of America researchers said some employers were addressing the labor shortage by simply leaning more on the workers they had. But, the report's authors wrote, "this is not sustainable: you can only speed up the treadmill for so long."

So why's everyone quitting?

There's no one answer for why workers are turning their backs on jobs. Tuesday's data release doesn't capture people who are switching out of one industry into another or into a higher paying role, Nick Bunker, an Indeed economist, said on Twitter.

The number of people not working because of they were caring for themselves or someone else sick with coronavirus symptoms skyrocketed over the summer. To make matters worse, childcare centers have been closing again over increased caseloads.

In August, Daniel Zhao, a senior economist at Glassdoor, told Insider 3.7 million more people would have quit if there'd been no pandemic - those "missing quits" have continually shrank as workers leave in droves and make up for lost time.

And then there's the more existential answer. Anthony Klotz, an organizational psychologist who coined the phrase the "Great Resignation," previously told Insider that humans step back and ask existential questions when they come in close contact with death and illness - something tragically abundant throughout the pandemic. That can lead to "life pivots."

"One hopefully silver lining of this horrible pandemic would be if the world of work transitioned to a more healthy, sustainable place for employee well-being," Klotz said.

Have you quit your job in the past few months and want to share your story? Email these reporters at jkaplan@insider.com and mhoff@insider.com.