Higher education has been hit with furloughs and layoffs stemming from the economic instability brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The national unemployment rate in April reached a high of 14.7% but dropped to 13.3% in May, the Bureau for Labor Statistics (BLS) reported.
However, when broken down by education, individuals with a college degree were less likely to be unemployed. Those that held a bachelor’s degree or higher had an unemployment rate of 8.4%. Comparably, the unemployment rate for individuals with only a high school diploma was 17.3% and 15% for those with some college education, according to BLS.
How will the current graduating class of doctoral students’ job search be affected this summer and onward?
“You know, we all have a point where there are challenges and hurdles that we’ve got to overcome,” says Dr. Jerrilee Mosier, chancellor of Ivy Tech Community College-Northeast. “In this instance, it may divert that path in some ways, but they’ll still be doing something that they’ve determined that they love.”
Dr. Walter G. Bumphus, president and CEO of the American Association of Community Colleges, argues that the changes in higher education due to the pandemic could create both hindrances and positive opportunities to the job search process.
With the shift to remote learning and working over the last few months, it has been difficult to apply and interview for a job position within a traditional setting. To adjust, many institutions have continued to search for potential new employees via Zoom or other modes of technology.
