  To study the causes of the 2021 Great Resignation, we use text analysis to
investigate the changes in work- and quit-related posts between 2018 and 2021
on Reddit. We find that the Reddit discourse evolution resembles the dynamics
of the U.S. quit and layoff rates. Furthermore, when the COVID-19 pandemic
started, conversations related to working from home, switching jobs,
work-related distress, and mental health increased. We distinguish between
general work-related and specific quit-related discourse changes using a
difference-in-differences method. Our main finding is that mental health and
work-related distress topics disproportionally increased among quit-related
posts since the onset of the pandemic, likely contributing to the Great
Resignation. Along with better labor market conditions, some relief came
beginning-to-mid-2021 when these concerns decreased. Our study validates the
use of forums such as Reddit for studying emerging economic phenomena in real
time, complementing traditional labor market surveys and administrative data.

General Economics;Social and Information Networks;Economics