The Staffing Challenge in Schools and Caregiving

It's that time of year again. I don't mean the sudden crispness in the air nor the return of football season. It's back-to-school time, and once again we are talking about challenges in K-12 staffing. This scramble for teachers and staff coincides with the recent news that the overall U.S. economy has recovered 100 percent of the jobs lost during the pandemic. It's a reminder that the jobs recovery has been unequal across sectors, leaving segments of our economy behind. The economy is not just missing K-12 staff. It is short nurses, child care workers and elder care providers, too — all jobs that are essential in supporting the development and participation of workers in our economy. Taking a historic lens, these occupations were some of the pathways most readily available to women before they began entering the workforce in larger numbers. Take nursing, for example. In 1950, almost 100 percent of nurses were women. In public education, over 60 percent of the 1950 workforce was female. Today, these remain majority woman careers. Almost 90 percent of nurses are still women, and local public education is over 70 percent women. Child care and elder care staffing is over 80 percent women.1 Some have observed that the history of the labor supply for these critical jobs has left their compensation misaligned with the societal value they create. Why are these jobs lagging the overall economic recovery today? Blame the pandemic for exacerbating existing challenges and introducing new ones: