Estimate: 1.6 million U.S. nonprofit jobs lost to pandemic

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nba.30831
• Published date: 01 September 2020
• Date: 01 September 2020

SEPTEMBER 2020 NONPROFIT BUSINESS ADVISOR

3

© 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC • All rights reserved

DOI: 10.1002/nba

nonprots operate that for-prot rms pay higher

average weekly wages than nonprots, and these are

all non-service elds:, the arts, entertainment and

recreation, which includes professional sports.

The Johns Hopkins report also noted a somewhat

ironic side effect of nonprots’ growth and success in

many of these elds: It has attracted more and more

for-prot businesses to the fold.

Per the report, for-prot employment in a num-

ber of traditional nonprot elds grew faster than

nonprofit employment over the period studied,

driven partly by expanded governmental support

that boosted nonprot growth in these areas as well.

But, for-prots entering these areas have tended to

pay their employees less, which enables them to offer

government clients better terms that, in turn, is giv-

ing them a price advantage vis-à-vis nonprots and

leading to higher growth rates. For example:

• Although nonprot employment in nursing and

residential care grew by 2.6% during this period,

for-prot employment in this eld grew by nearly

20%.

• In hospitals, for-prot employment growth out-

paced nonprot employment growth 24.3% to 10.4%.

• In social assistance, for-profit employment

growth outpaced nonprot growth roughly 124%

to 18%.

• In education, the for-prot edge was 29% to 22%.

According to Salamon, the inux of for-prot

outts has meant a decrease in market share for

nonprots in these sectors. But it has also brought

increased opportunity for workers in both settings,

paving the way for more frequent job-hopping be-

tween nonprots and for-prot businesses working

in the same elds. That sets up the possibility of

a nonprot workforce of the future that has more

experience in a prot-driven setting where streamlin-

ing and efciency are prized, and bringing some of

those lessons back to the philanthropic sector to bear

fruit. But it also carries the potential to lift wages at

for-prots operating in these areas, as their workers

see higher pay working for nonprot competitors. ■

For More Information

Lester Salamon is director of the Johns Hopkins Center

for Civil Society Studies, a leading source of ground-

breaking research and knowledge about the nonprot

sector, social investing and the tools of government. For

more information, visit http://ccss.jhu.edu or contact

Salamon via email at lsalamon@jhu.edu.

Estimate: 1.6 million U.S. nonprot

jobs lost to pandemic

According to estimates from the Johns Hopkins

Center for Civil Society Studies, the nonprot sector

has shed about 1.6 million jobs in the rst few months

of the coronavirus pandemic. Notably, the sector has

heavy exposure to areas of the economy that have been

especially hard hit, such as health care, social services

and education. According to the Center’s analysis, job

losses from March through May, 2020—and the non-

prot sector’s share of those losses—were as follows:

Total Job Losses

March–May 2020

Nonprot

Losses

All Private Non-Farm Employment –18,723,000 –1,643,128

Professional, Scientic and

Technical Services

–489,200 –14,689

Educational Services

Elementary and secondary

schools

Colleges, universities and

professional schools

Educational support services

–455,600 –323,201

Health Care

Ambulatory health care

services

Ofces of physicians

Ofces of dentists

Ofces of other health care

practitioners

Outpatient care centers

Hospitals

Nursing and residential care

facilities

–1,322,600 –574,530

Social Assistance

Individual and family services

Child day-care centers

Community food and

housing, other relief services

Vocational rehabilitation

services

–630,150 –259,007

Arts, Entertainment and

Recreation

Performing arts, spectator

sports and similar

organizations

Performing arts companies

Museums, historical sites and

similar organizations

–1,327,250 –205,964

Other Services (except public

administration)

Religious, grantmaking, civic,

professional and similar

services and organizations

Religious organizations

Grantmaking and giving

services

Social advocacy

organizations

Civic and social organizations

Business, professional,

labor, political and similar

organizations

–1,155,000 –218,167

Source: Johns Hopkins Center for Civil Society Studies