Valley businesses' struggle to have enough employees on hand likely isn't going to abate soon, as a new report shows the state has one of the highest resignation rates in the U.S.

The report, from financial website WalletHub, ranked Arizona eighth in terms of resignaion rates over the past month and the past year. Arizona's resignation rate in February was 3.5% and 3.21% for the past year.

High resigntion rates have left Valley businesses scrambling for workers, with many firms, particularly in the restaurant industry, struggling to maintain full staffs to serve customers as the coronavirus pandemic has waned.

Part of the struggle, according to economic experts, is a decline in the labor force retention rate. Kevin Lang, the Laurence A. Bllom Professor of Economics at Boston University, said the labor force participation rate has slipped from 63.4% in January 2019 to 62.2% in January 2021.

"We certainly have a tight labor market. This is forcing employers to offer better wages and working conditions, and some are finding it difficult to hire or hold onto workers because other employers are also improving wages and working conditions," he said. "Tight labor markets see high quit rates because workers can take a chance on a job, they think they might prefer in the knowledge that they can switch jobs again relatively easily if they do not like their new job."

Tuvana Rua, associate professor of management for the Quinnipiac University School of Business, said the pandemic has seemed to shift workers' priorities and made many more willing to switch jobs, retire early or tap into other financial efforts.

The move back to the office for many workers also may keep the quit rate high for the forseeable future, Rua said.

"Employees who have gotten used to these flexible work arrangements and have proven that they are as productive if not more productive with those arrangements are not necessarily on board with these arrangements to be dialed back," she said. "A survey conducted in Spring of 2021 indicated that about 39% of the remote workforce would rather quit than go back to the office, while almost half of the millennials and Gen Z who work remotely said the same."

For a complete look at the report, click here.