What has COVID-19 done to American jobs, and what can we do about it?
Tags: Covid, Covid 19, Stimulus, Jobs, Biden

What has COVID-19 done to American jobs, and what can we do about it? AFT Follow Mar 5 · 3 min read

In February 2021, our economy created 379,000 jobs. That’s good, but it’s not enough: We’re still down 9.5 million jobs from where our economy was just one year ago. At this rate, it will take two years to gain back those jobs and closer to three years to catch up to where we were pre -pandemic, when accounting for population growth. Translation? February was a decent month, but more help is needed and it’s needed now.

When you dig deeper into the numbers, you find that, compared with 12 months ago, there are some alarming job losses in education, the public sector and healthcare:

674,000 fewer jobs in local government education;

327,000 fewer jobs in state government education;

31,000 fewer jobs in the rest of state government;

360,000 fewer jobs in the rest of local government; and

102,000 fewer jobs in hospitals.

These job losses come in some of the most important sectors of employment for helping us cope with the pandemic and the economic downturn. Losing more than 100,000 hospital jobs during a pandemic is alarming. We know how much stress COVID-19 has placed on hospitals, and we know that nurse staffing in particular was an issue even before the pandemic.

We also know that before the pandemic, schools and colleges in many states still hadn’t recovered from the Great Recession and were in need of more resources. The cuts they are taking are bad for our economy and, more importantly, bad for our children. If we were to properly make use of all available spaces to provide safe, in-person education, we would need more staff, not less. Similarly, state and local government workers in areas like public health and services for senior citizens, processing of unemployment benefits and many others are needed more than ever now, yet we are making cuts.

Another alarming takeaway from the jobs data is that, even with every other bad thing the past year has wrought, societal inequities continue to live on. As such, the unemployment rate for Americans of color is much higher than the already high overall unemployment rate of 6.2 percent. For Black Americans, the unemployment rate is 9.9 percent, and for Hispanics or Latinos, it is 8.5 percent.

So what can we do? On an individual level, continue to protect yourself and others by wearing a mask, of course, and get your vaccine when it’s your turn. But on a larger scale, our country must pass the American Rescue Plan. People need relief, and they need it now.

If passed, the American Rescue Plan would put money in working families’ pockets, invest in states and localities, fund public schools and help curb the spread of COVID-19. Additionally, it will provide immediate aid to protect frontline workers like nurses and EMTs; help teachers, school staff and administrators get our schools reopened safely; help those hit hardest by the pandemic feed their families, pay their bills and keep a roof over their heads; and, critically, ramp up vaccine production and distribution. Each of these things is good on its own, but together they will help our economy move forward and help more of us get back to work.

We have actions you can take, like tweeting and calling your senators. You have the power to tell our elected officials how best to serve the people. We are the people — and we must do what we can. Help is urgently needed, and we need hope that help is on the way.

[Brianna Meeks]