MCC Daily Tribune
IR's COVID-Era College-Wide Survey Results Section IV: How the Pandemic Has Changed Students' Employment
As I mentioned in my Trib post on July 7, I would be sharing the results of IR's COVID-Era College-Wide Survey throughout July and August. The following is Section IV of XI.
Note: Because I had a margin of error of +/-3%, the following results can be generalized to the larger population of people who were sent the survey.
Respondents were asked if they had a paid job(s) any time from September 2019 to March 2020. Three-quarters (77%) indicated that they had. Of those, half said they are still working but another half said they have lost their job either temporarily or permanently.
I was also interested in assessing whether women’s – and especially mothers’ -- employment has been affected by the pandemic. This is because national data shows that their work has been disproportionately affected for reasons such as:
- Women are more likely than men to work in lower paying jobs
- Mothers, even working mothers, are generally children’s primary caregivers
- Child care was unaffordable prior to the pandemic and largely unavailable during the pandemic (Bateman and Ross, 2020).
My hypothesis was supported by the survey data. Our female students’ -- and in particular our Single Mom Learners’-- jobs were disproportionately affected by the pandemic. Approximately 54% of our Single Mom Learners have lost their job(s) temporarily or permanently or now earn less, as compared to 40% of males and 44% of all respondents who weren't Non-Single Mom Learners.
Echoing the national data, COVID also disproportionately disrupted the employment of MCC Students of Color, low-income students, and Student-Parents:
- More than twice as many Students of Color than White students say they now earn less at their jobs (13% vs. 5%).
- More Pell-eligible students than non-Pell-eligible students have permanently lost their job(s) (25% vs. 15% of non-Pell-eligible students).
- Nearly twice as many Student-Parents (than Non-Parents say they now earn less at their jobs (11% vs. 6%).
Reference
Bateman, N. & Ross, M. (2020, October). Why has COVID-19 been especially harmful for working women?, Brookings Institution. https://www.brookings.edu/essay/why-has-covid-19-been-especially-harmful-for-working-women/
Mary Ann DeMario
Research
07/21/2021