Building the Post-COVID Pipeline: Invigorating Community Colleges

In February, more than 61 percent of the U.S. population was working—the largest share since the Great Recession. In April, the share dropped almost 10 percentage points, to 51.3 percent, with even larger declines for younger workers, women, minorities, and people with less education. While there has been steady recovery, in October the employment-to-population ratio was still 3.7 percentage points lower than before the pandemic. There are 9 million fewer people employed today than in February. With so many people looking for work, how is it possible that so many employers tell us they are struggling to find workers? In October, a survey by the National Federation of Independent Businesses found 33 percent of small-business owners couldn’t fill current openings. In addition, almost 90 percent of the businesses that were trying to hire (55 percent of all the businesses surveyed) reported having a hard time finding qualified applicants for their openings. In our own Fifth District surveys of the manufacturing and service sectors, firms also report that it’s difficult to find workers with the necessary skills.