> Skip to content
FEATURED:
  • Student-Success Resource Center
Sign In
  • News
  • Advice
  • The Review
  • Data
  • Current Issue
  • Virtual Events
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
Sign In
  • News
  • Advice
  • The Review
  • Data
  • Current Issue
  • Virtual Events
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
  • News
  • Advice
  • The Review
  • Data
  • Current Issue
  • Virtual Events
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Career Resources
Sign In
ADVERTISEMENT
Work Force
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Show more sharing options
Share
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Copy Link URLCopied!
  • Print

Higher Ed’s Work Force Has Returned to Its Pre-Pandemic Size

By  Dan Bauman
October 10, 2022

After more than two years of uneven recovery, America’s colleges and universities find themselves in a welcome position. Following the addition of an estimated 23,500 employees in July, academe’s work force added another 3,400 jobs in August, which restored it to its pre-pandemic size. All told, an estimated 4.7 million workers are employed by American higher ed today, on par with the labor force’s size during the early days of 2020 — before Covid-19 induced historic rates of furloughs, retirements, and layoffs.

We're sorry. Something went wrong.

We are unable to fully display the content of this page.

The most likely cause of this is a content blocker on your computer or network.

Please allow access to our site, and then refresh this page. You may then be asked to log in, create an account if you don't already have one, or subscribe.

If you continue to experience issues, please contact us at 202-466-1032 or help@chronicle.com

After more than two years of uneven recovery, America’s colleges and universities find themselves in a welcome position. Following the addition of an estimated 23,500 employees in July, academe’s work force added another 3,400 jobs in August, which restored it to its pre-pandemic size. All told, an estimated 4.7 million workers are employed by American higher ed today, on par with the labor force’s size during the early days of 2020 — before Covid-19 induced historic rates of furloughs, retirements, and layoffs.

Job recoveries were strong across both of the sectors of American higher education that the Bureau of Labor Statistics observes. Private institutions employed about 11,000 more workers in August 2022 than they did in February 2020, and public institutions were just short of that pre-pandemic watermark by an estimated 700 jobs.

December 2020 represented the darkest month of the pandemic for higher ed in terms of cumulative job losses, with an estimated 473,000 fewer workers employed when compared to eight months earlier — a reduction of nearly 10 percent. Put another way, one out of every 10 employees on the payroll in February 2020 had disappeared from higher ed’s work force by Christmas of 2020.

The net loss in jobs was so large that it erased more than a decade of job gains within the industry, with higher ed’s work force in December 2020 shrinking to the same size it had been at the close of 2008.

But higher ed’s labor force would see dramatic — if fitful — improvement thereafter, with 330,500 workers cumulatively added to the labor force in the first six months of 2021 — enough to reduce the sector’s total job-loss tab by 70 percent. But it would take another 14 months for the sector to clear the remaining 30-percent, 142,500-job deficit. The job losses would eventually be blamed for diminished services and supply-chain woes on many campuses, as well as widespread burnout among remaining employees.

Prior to the declaration of the Covid-19 pandemic, America’s colleges and universities had never shed so many employees at such an incredible rate, according to estimates spanning 60-plus years and prepared by the U.S. Department of Labor.

ADVERTISEMENT

Higher ed’s return to pre-pandemic employment levels lagged slightly behind a similar restoration in the wider economy. After adding 528,000 workers in July, the nation’s collective payrolls fully restored the number of jobs lost during the pandemic.

Though estimates of the number of workers employed by colleges and universities are available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, these data do not include information on other classes of workers, such as those employed by companies that contract with academic institutions to prepare food and clean facilities and who may have lost their jobs because of scaled-back business with academic institutions.

A year into the pandemic, an analysis by The Chronicle identified several changes within higher ed’s work force — most notably that workers of color endured a disproportionate share of job losses relative to the size of that population in the sector’s work force over all.

We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
The WorkplaceData
Dan Bauman
Dan Bauman is a reporter who investigates and writes about all things data in higher education. Tweet him at @danbauman77, or email him at dan.bauman@chronicle.com.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
  • Explore Content
    • Latest News
    • Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Professional Development
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Chronicle Intelligence
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    Explore Content
    • Latest News
    • Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Professional Development
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Chronicle Intelligence
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
  • Know The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • Write for Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • Our Reporting Process
    • Advertise With Us
    • Brand Studio
    • DEI Commitment Statement
    • Accessibility Statement
    Know The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • Write for Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • Our Reporting Process
    • Advertise With Us
    • Brand Studio
    • DEI Commitment Statement
    • Accessibility Statement
  • Account and Access
    • Manage Your Account
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Institutional Subscriptions
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
    Account and Access
    • Manage Your Account
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Institutional Subscriptions
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
  • Get Support
    • Contact Us
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • User Agreement
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
    Get Support
    • Contact Us
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • User Agreement
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
1255 23rd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037
© 2023 The Chronicle of Higher Education
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • facebook
  • linkedin