Figures from the U.S. Department of Labor indicate that education workers have been among the hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic and resulting recession.
Pew Charitable Trusts reports that according to U.S. Department of Labor estimates, state and local education employment was down 8.8% in October from the previous year.
That represents the lowest national jobs total at that point in the school year since 2000. The cuts were mostly driven by temporary layoffs and positions left unfilled in the new school year. Private sector jobs, by comparison, dropped 6.2% year over year.
In seven states, local education employment fell more than 10% over the year as of September, based on the latest available state-level data. Meanwhile only two states, North Dakota and Utah, recorded slight gains. In most states, higher education employment fell at even greater rates.
Although teachers account for a portion of the local education cuts, anecdotal evidence suggests that bus drivers, food service personnel, support staff, and other non-instructional positions bore the brunt of the initial reductions as schools shifted to distance learning.
The majority of the mostly temporary education job cuts have hit local public schools, driving employment in the sector down in nearly every state from September 2019 to September 2020. Nationally, local public education is down 6.9% during the same period.
Nevada (-19%), West Virginia (-14%), and Florida (-13%) recorded the largest declines from a year ago. Nevada lawmakers cut K-12 education funding by about $160 million in a special session in July after the pandemic temporarily shuttered casinos, hotels, and other establishments that generate crucial sales tax revenue.
Local education jobs in Florida were similarly well below last September's numbers. Many districts there experienced substantial drops in student enrollment, which could lead to sharp reductions in per-pupil funding.
Some districts have already sustained significant reductions in state funding. Georgia slashed its K-12 funding by $950 million, although federal aid and reserves are expected to cover about half the reduction.
News reports suggest many of the layoffs or furloughs so far have targeted bus drivers, custodial staff, cafeteria workers, and other support personnel, rather than teachers. Such noninstructional staff account for about 30% of full-time equivalent jobs in U.S. elementary and secondary education, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Nationally, local education jobs bottomed out in May, when they had dropped by about 730,000 from February totals. They started recovering in July and August before falling further in September and October.
Meanwhile, public colleges and universities have sustained an even sharper 13.7% drop in employment when October national estimates are compared with pre-pandemic February totals.
Higher education employment fell as the pandemic has triggered state funding cutbacks, new expenses such as for testing and contact tracing, and enrollment declines.
In 2021, school districts and colleges will continue to confront multiple headwinds. Most states are projecting significant revenue shortfalls that will threaten aid to education. But schools also often rely heavily on local property taxes, a revenue stream that has yet to incur major reductions. In the last recession, the deepest cuts to public employment didn’t occur until well into the recovery, lagging the private sector by a few years.
