Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Higher Education Employment Increases in Q2 2017 But Not at Community Colleges

  • 12/29/17

STATE COLLEGE, PA – According to HigherEdJobs, the leading job and career site for higher education professionals, the total number of jobs in higher education increased during Q2 2017 by the largest second quarter amount in five years.

According to an analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data by HigherEdJobs, higher education employment increased 0.8 percent, or roughly 29,900 jobs, during the second quarter. This was the largest second quarter increase since Q2 2012 when it increased by essentially the same amount. Public and private institutions experienced similar percentage job growth but public institutions saw a larger increase in the number of jobs because they employ almost twice as many people.  Meanwhile, community colleges lost more than 12,500 jobs, or 1.8 percent, in Q2 2017, the 14th consecutive month of year-over-year quarterly job losses for this type of academic institution.

Even though the number of jobs increased in higher education, job postings for open positions at colleges and universities were down during the second quarter, decreasing 1.9 percent compared to the year before. Although this was the second consecutive quarter that job postings decreased, it was not as severe and considered an improvement from the immediately previous quarter's decline of 4.5 percent. The Q2 2017 decline was driven by decreases in postings for full-time faculty and administrative positions and was geographically broad-based. However, postings for part-time faculty and administrative positions both increased and at a slightly higher rate during Q2 2017 than in Q1 2017.

The report analyzes the most current data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and HigherEdJobs' posting trends from roughly 880 colleges and universities that have continuously subscribed to the company's unlimited posting plan for four years. The full report can be viewed here.

HigherEdJobs® is the leading source for jobs and career information in academia. During 2016, 5,400 colleges and universities posted more than 215,000 faculty, administrative, and executive job postings to the company's website, which receives 1.5 million unique visitors a month. HigherEdJobs is published by Internet Employment Linkage, Inc. and is headquartered in State College, PA.

Featured

  • Chartwells Launches Campus Dining Evaluation Framework

    Contract food-service management provider Chartwells Higher Education recently announced the launch of BLUEPRINT, according to a news release. The evaluation framework was designed to provide a data-driven and customizable roadmap towards optimizing campus dining services and, by extension, the student experience.

  • University of Arizona Approves New Residence Hall

    The Arizona Board of Regents recently approved plans for a new residence hall at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Ariz., according to a news release. The new facility is scheduled to open in fall 2028 and have the capacity for more than 1,200 students, enforcing a new university expectation that all first-year students live on campus.

  • New City School

    Turning Crisis into Opportunity: Transforming New City School

    When New City School in St. Louis suffered catastrophic flood damage in July 2022, the event could have marked a serious setback for the 100-year-old institution. Instead, it became a forward-looking opportunity.

  • University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Launches New Emergency Communications System

    The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) recently deployed a new emergency notification and incident management system for its campus, according to a news release. The university partnered with 911Cellular to launch Safe@UTC, a smartphone app allowing university officials to communicate and respond during emergency situations.