What Happened to the K–12 Education Labor Market During COVID? The Acute Need for Better Data Systems

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic upended the U.S. education system in ways that dramatically affected the jobs of K–12 employees. However, there remains considerable uncertainty about the nature and degree of staffing challenges during the pandemic. We draw on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and State Education Agencies (SEA) to describe patterns in K–12 education employment and to highlight the limitations of available data. Data from the BLS suggest overall employment in the K–12 labor market declined by 9 percent at the onset of the pandemic and remained well below pre-pandemic levels more than two years later. SEA data suggest that teachers did not leave the profession en masse as many predicted, with turnover decreasing in the summer of 2020 and then increasing modestly in 2021 back to pre-pandemic levels. We explore possible explanations for these patterns including weak hiring through the summer of 2020 and high attrition among K–12 instructional support and non-instructional staff. State vacancy data also suggest that schools faced substantial challenges filling open positions during the 2021–22 academic year. Our analyses illustrate the imperative to build nationally representative, detailed, and timely data systems on the K–12 education labor market to better inform policy.

Educator Turnover Has Markedly Increased, but Districts Have Taken Actions to Boost Teacher Ranks: Selected Findings from the Sixth American School District Panel Survey

“…1 This increase corresponds to roughly an extra 114,000 teachers leaving their position nationally compared with the previous school year. 2 The national uptick in teacher turnover we document here generally comports with findings from recent state-specific trend studies (e.g., Bacher-Hicks, Chi, and Orellana, 2022;Bastian and Fuller, 2023;Camp, Zamarro, and McGee, 2022).…”

Teacher Shortages: What Are We Short Of?

“…. and timely” (Bleiberg & Kraft, 2022). Therefore, an acute need for a comprehensive data system exists.…”

Navigating Policy and Local Context in Times of Crisis: District and School Leader Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Although schools have since reopened ( Grossmann et al, 2021 ), calls of “learning loss”—especially for those traditionally underserved—have run rampant (e.g., Dorn et al, 2020 ; Engzell et al, 2021 ; Fuchs-Schundeln et al, 2020 ; Kuhfeld et al, 2020 ; Lewis et al, 2022 ; Shores & Steinberg, 2022 ). Additionally, increased turnover/burnout among administrators (Clifford & Coggshall, 2021 ; DeMatthews, 2021 ; Sawchuck, 2021 ) and teachers ( Bleiberg & Kraft, 2022 ; Pressley, 2021 ) have become the norm.…”

“…While districts have returned to in-person instruction ( Grossmann et al, 2021 ), the pandemic has negatively impacted students’ learning opportunities and academic performance, particularly for those traditionally underserved (e.g., Belsha et al, 2020 ; Domingue et al, 2022 ; Jackson et al, 2022 ; Kuhfeld et al, 2022 ; Lewis et al, 2022 ; Muñiz, 2021 ; NAE, 2020 ; OECD, 2021 ; Patrick et al, 2021 ). There has also been increased turnover and burnout among administrators ( DeMatthews, 2021 ; Sawchuck, 2021 ) and teachers ( Bleiberg & Kraft, 2022 ; Kraft et al, 2020 ; Pressley, 2021 ). Notwithstanding, emerging evidence about the impact of COVID-19 on K-12 school systems has been largely anecdotal (but see De Voto & Superfine, 2023; Goldhaber et al, 2022 ; Grossmann et al, 2021 ; Kaul et al, 2022 ; Kuhfeld et al, 2020 , 2022 ; Pressley, 2021 ).…”