Press Release

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 10, 2022

Like so many employers, higher education institutions have been experiencing the effects of the Great Resignation and the subsequent challenges of talent recruitment amid the growing availability of remote and flexible work options. New data from CUPA-HR shows which higher ed workforce positions and academic disciplines have seen the greatest growth and which have seen the greatest decline from 2020-21 to 2021-22.

Staff and Professional-Level Positions

Among higher ed staff and professional-level positions that saw the greatest growth: event planning assistant (up 193%), institutional research analyst (up 161%), head of campus museum (up 120%) and tutor (up 114%). These increases reflect an increase in the number of people hired to fill existing or newly created positions since 2020-21.

The positions that saw the greatest decline in number of employees were environment, health and safety technician (down 37%), head of campus learning resources center (down 36%), online instruction operations manager (down 32%) and dishwasher (down 29%). These decreases reflect a decrease in the number of people in these positions since 2020-21, either because the institution has reduced the number of available positions or because those positions have unfilled vacancies.

Says Jackie Bichsel, director of research at CUPA-HR, “The return to in-person events, the growing demand for data to inform institutional decision-making and the continued interest in honoring the cultural histories of institutions may have played a role in increased demand for the positions that saw the greatest increases. Also, as the high school graduates most impacted by the pandemic’s disruption of classroom learning make their way to college, more tutors may be needed to help them bridge anticipated gaps.”

Smaller Shifts in Faculty

Overall, tenure-track faculty saw much smaller increases and declines in the years analyzed. Disciplines with the highest growth were Library Science (up 8.4%), Liberal Arts and Sciences (up 7.0%) and Area, Ethnic, Cultural, Gender and Group Studies (up 2.3%). Disciplines with the greatest declines were Communications Technologies (down 22%), Agriculture (down 9%) and Engineering Technologies and Technicians (down 6.4%).

View the interactive graphic for this data in CUPA-HR’s Research Center.

About CUPA-HR

CUPA-HR is the recognized authority on compensation surveys for higher education, with its workforce surveys designed by higher ed HR professionals for higher ed HR professionals and other campus leaders. CUPA-HR has been collecting data on the higher ed workforce for more than 50 years, and we maintain one of the largest workforce databases in existence. CUPA-HR also publishes numerous research publications and interactive graphics highlighting trends and issues around higher ed workforce planning, pay equity, representation of women and racial/ethnic minorities and more. Learn more about CUPA-HR research.

CUPA-HR is higher ed HR. We serve higher education by providing the knowledge, resources, advocacy and connections to achieve organizational and workforce excellence. Headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, and serving more than 33,000 HR professionals and other campus leaders at nearly 2,000 member institutions and organizations around the country and abroad, the association offers learning and professional development programs, higher education salary and benefits data, extensive online resources and just-in-time regulatory and legislative information.

Contact Information
Missy Kline
Project Manager – Communications and Marketing
[email protected]