Resource Spotlight
COVID-19 and the Future of Work: How Job Opportunities in New England Have Changed
In the immediate, the outbreak of the novel coronavirus has changed how many of us work: remote work has surged in recent weeks, as employers have had to become agile in response to the pandemic. The effects of this change will be long-lasting. Some of the country's biggest
employers
have already changed their policies to increase employees' remote work options permanently.
Yet, a more gradual impact of COVID-19 on the American workforce will be its reshaping of what many of us do for work. This week, we explore Emsi's proprietary job postings data from April 2019 and April 2020 to discern how and to what extent employment opportunities have changed in New England since the start of the current health crisis.
Summary of Data:
NUMBER OF JOB POSTINGS
:
Every New England state saw a
significant drop in job postings in April 2020
compared to April 2019 — ranging from a decline of 20.9% in Massachusetts to 33.5% in Vermont.
OCCUPATIONAL SHIFTS:
In every New England state, the top three occupations differed from April 2019 to April 2020. In general, the
prevalence of retail-related occupations declined
in 2020, and
nursing and nursing assistant occupations increased
.
TOP EMPLOYERS:
The region's top employers also changed between April 2019 and April 2020. While
Uber Technologies, Inc.
was a top employer across New England in 2019, it is no longer so in April 2020. Instead, other companies have risen to the top of the list, such as
Amazon.com, Inc.
,
The Home Depot
, and
CVS Health Corporation
.
HEALTHCARE-RELATED JOB POSTINGS:
Employment opportunities in healthcare increased in three New England states
— Connecticut (+5.3%), Massachusetts (+5.6%), and Rhode Island (+1.6%) — and decreased elsewhere in the region — Maine (-12.5%), New Hampshire (-5.9%), and Vermont (-6.3%). These figures are consistent with the spread of COVID-19 in New England: the states with increased job postings in healthcare are also the states with the highest number of cases of the new coronavirus.
EDUCATION LEVEL:
Between April 2019 and April 2020, there was
no statistically significant difference in the level of education
either required or preferred in job postings across New England. Since these figures remain essentially steady over the period under investigation, we not to include charts with this information in the fact sheets linked above. However, this detail is worth noting because it suggests that the widespread decline in job postings across New England has affected individuals at every educational attainment level. In other words, the job market in general has shrunk since April 2019.
ADVERTISED SALARY:
Additionally, there has been
no significant change in the median advertised salary
of job postings across New England. While there were fewer job opportunities for New England residents in April 2020 compared to April 2019, salary levels largely held steady.
POSTING INTENSITY:
Job posting intensity
increased minimally
from April 2019 to April 2020 but
remained within the average range
for the region. According to Emsi, posting intensity is the ratio of total to unique (deduplicated) job postings. A higher than average posting intensity can mean that employers are putting more effort than normal into hiring that position. The current ratio indicates that employers are putting average effort toward hiring for open positions.
