Education job losses are seen as likely aberration

When traditional pillars of the Rhode Island economy faltered in recent decades, education remained a reliable driver of investment and high-paying jobs.
So it was startling when the state’s most recent employment report showed the private-education sector lost 1,100 jobs between April and May and 1,500 jobs from one year ago.
The 23,800 people employed in private colleges, universities, high schools, training schools and in various educational-support services was the lowest monthly total since January 2008, according to statistics from the R.I. Department of Labor and Training. The numbers are seasonally adjusted and do not include public schools or colleges, which fall under the government- employment category.
Precisely where the education-industry job losses are coming from and whether they are permanent is unclear, according to state officials, who say there’s a chance the May figures could still be an aberration.
At the state’s private colleges and universities, which make up the largest piece of the private-education sector and have been growing slowly and steadily over the past 20 years, public discussions have focused on expansion, not layoffs.
“Our sense is this is not a part of trend,” said Daniel P. Egan, president of the Association of Independent Colleges & Universities of Rhode Island about the job numbers. “Prior to the recession, we were one of the only growth sectors, with pretty dramatic growth. That leveled off and there were some reductions in staff, mostly through advanced retirement and attrition, in response economic conditions.”
After seeing the May numbers, Egan reached out to member schools to find out what was going on, but none reported large cuts and could only provide theories for where the reductions had come from. He said he was not aware of large layoffs at any of the state’s private colleges and universities.
One theory passed along to explain the falling job numbers is that the earlier-than normal Memorial Day threw off the seasonal adjustments, Egan said. Employment is typically lower in the summer-vacation months and there is a chance jobs that normally would have expired in June ended in May instead.
If so, those jobs should show up in improved June employment numbers.
Egan said another theory members mentioned was that last fall had seen an unusually high volume of student hiring and that the decline in overall employment may have reflected a larger-than-normal number of those jobs ending.
Asked whether federal sequestration cuts may be a contributing factor, Egan said he did not know.
College and university jobs typically make up a little more than half of the total educational-services employment total in the state and are the only sub-sector of the industry that the state tracks.
The Department of Labor and Training’s sub-sector job numbers are not seasonally adjusted, but show the loss of employment in the education industry is likely coming from higher education.
Although they can’t be compared directly to the seasonally adjusted, sector-wide education numbers, the nonadjusted figures show college employment dropped by 1,200 jobs from April to May and 700 jobs from May 2012.
Brown University is the largest college employer in the state with 4,459 total staff last year, according to the PBN Book of Lists (roughly the same number as the public University of Rhode Island.)
Roger Williams University was the second-largest private-college employer at 1,413 workers, then Johnson & Wales University, 1,092 total staff; Rhode Island School of Design, 1,044; Providence College, 744; Bryant University, 670; and Salve Regina University 298. In October 2011, Rhode Island education-sector employment, excluding the public schools and colleges, peaked at 25,600 jobs, having climbed from 23,300 jobs in October 2007, 21,400 jobs in October 2004, 20,000 in October 2002, 17,200 in October 1998 and 16,400 in October 1990.
As recently as January there were a seasonally adjusted 25,500 industry jobs.
Of the seven private colleges in the state, only Rhode Island School of Design responded to an inquiry about whether they had reduced staff. Spokeswoman Jamie Marland said RISD had actually added a dozen staff members in 2013.
DLT spokeswoman Laura Hart said it was too early to tell whether the May numbers were a sign of a significant drop in jobs or a blip.
Like Egan, Hart also mentioned Memorial Day, which was one day earlier than last year, and the possibility of more student employees moving on, as possible contributors to the downturn.
“We won’t really know what is happening until the June numbers come out,” Hart said. “The education sector is always a tricky sector to measure.”
If Rhode Island’s May education-sector jobs losses do turn out to be an aberration, it will put the mixed-bag May employment picture in a better light.
The state unemployment rate crept up 0.1 percentage point in May and the number or Rhode Island-based jobs fell by 200, while the number of employed Rhode Islanders rose by 400 people and the labor force grew by 600 people.
The loss of 1,100 education jobs, exceeded the losses in all other industries, where “other services,” dropped 300 jobs; professional and business services lost 200 jobs, and both health care and manufacturing shed 100 jobs. •

No posts to display