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Live Coronavirus Updates

Tracking the impact of the pandemic on higher education

As the Omicron variant spreads, Covid-19 cases are on the rise. The Chronicle is tracking developments across higher ed here. Read on for live updates and information.

Job Cuts and Stagnant Salaries: A New Report Details the Pandemic’s Toll on the Faculty

By Audrey Williams June March 30, 2021

The number of faculty members shrank in the 2020-21 academic year compared with the year before, according to an

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The number of faculty members shrank in the 2020-21 academic year compared with the year before, according to an annual survey by the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources, or CUPA-HR.

Pre-pandemic, in the 2019-20 academic year, there was an overall increase in all types of faculty members, with full-time non-tenure-track faculty up the most, at 3.36 percent. But the pandemic reversed the trend of a growing professoriate. Hardest hit, according to the report, were adjunct faculty. Over all, their ranks fell nearly 5 percent. And master’s, baccalaureate, and associate-granting institutions cut their adjunct work force by more than 6 percent. Tenure-track faculty fared the worst at associate colleges, with a 7.8-percent decrease among that group at those institutions.

The disciplines of library science and leisure and recreational activities had the largest percentage of job losses; each saw their numbers fall by more than 13 percent. The two disciplines with the largest number of faculty members whose jobs were cut over the 2020-21 academic year were business, management, and marketing, as well as and biological and biomedical sciences.

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Meanwhile, the overall median salary increase for full-time faculty barely budged in 2020-21 from the year before — 0.69 percent. It was the lowest increase since 2010, the report said.

The association’s report is based on responses from 793 institutions regarding 263,721 full-time faculty positions, and, of those, 362 institutions provided data on adjunct positions.

We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
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About the Author
Audrey Williams June
Audrey Williams June is the news-data manager at The Chronicle. She explores and analyzes data sets, databases, and records to uncover higher-education trends, insights, and stories. Email her at audrey.june@chronicle.com, or follow her on Twitter @audreywjune.
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