Study: N.J. fires more education workers than most states

New Jersey schools will be dealing with a short staff on top of COVID-19 this fall. According to job site Zippia, the state has fired more education workers than almost any other state.

Using data from the BLS, Zippia determined the states that fired the most education workers by measuring overall loss in jobs from June 2019 to June 2020. Then, the percent of jobs lost was calculated for each state. The larger the percent, the more jobs cut. In addition to teachers, education jobs refer to cafeteria workers, janitors, teacher assistants, administration, bus drivers and other support staff.

New Jersey came in at No. 2 out of all the states with the biggest decrease in education jobs. Over the past year, New Jersey’s education workforce declined by 11.2% to 636,200 from 716,700.

Here’s the Top 10:

1. Delaware (11.8% jobs lost);
2. New Jersey (11.2%);
3. Massachusetts (10.3%);
4. Michigan (9.7%);
5. Nevada (9.6%);
6. Maryland (8.7%);
7. Maine (8.4%);
8. New York (8.2%);
9. Alaska (8.1%);
10. Virginia (7.9%).

And the state’s with the smallest decrease in education jobs:

1. Arizona (.35%)
2. Georgia (1.11%)
3. Utah (1.15%)
4. Wyoming (1.4%)
5. Nebraska (1.85%)
6. Tennessee (1.95%)
7. New Hampshire (2.57%)
8. Montana (2.79%)
9. North Dakota (2.98%)
10. Florida (3.11%).