Dive Summary:
- According to an annual study by the U.S. Education Department's National Center for Education Statistics, colleges slowed their hiring rates in the wake of the economic downturn, but only the for-profit sector saw any decline in employee numbers.
- The study provides data on staff members working in fall 2011 at colleges and universities qualified to award federal financial aid, and the nearly 7,400 institutions included employed 3,920,836 faculty and staff that semester--up slightly from just under 3.9 million the year before, but also the smallest postsecondary employee increase since 2003.
- Despite an increase in the number of for-profit institutions, their employee numbers dropped from 295,495 in fall 2010 to 288,890 in 2011.
From the article:
Colleges have responded to the economic downturn by slowing their rates of hiring, although only in the for-profit sector of higher education is the number of workers actually declining, a new federal study finds. The report, an annual study by the U.S. Education Department's National Center for Education Statistics, provides data on the number, type and employment status of staff members working in fall 2011 at colleges and universities that qualify to award federal financial aid. ...