Employment rates are dropping for Americans without a college degree; they are disproportionately rural residents

Change in employment compared to same month in 2019 (Washington Post map; click on the image to enlarge it)

Though employment for all types of workers has tanked in the pandemic, jobs for college-educated workers have grown steadily since April 2019. But for non-military workers over age 25 with a high-school diploma or less (more common in rural areas), employment began dropping again in November. 

"These workers tend to be concentrated in the sort of industries that are most directly affected by government restrictions in response to Covid-19, such as eating and drinking places, construction and hotels," Alyssa Fowers reports for The Washington Post. "Such restrictions became more common over the winter. In November and December, 13 states and the District of Columbia closed or restricted nonessential businesses, according to data from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Seven states and D.C. closed indoor dining in the same time period." 

Among the three previously mentioned sectors—construction, eating and drinking, and hotels and motels—overall employment was down more than a million jobs in December 2020, compared to December 2019, Fowers reports. But even lower-education workers who kept their jobs are having a harder time than their college-educated counterparts: wages tend to start lower and stay lower, and such workers are less likely to have paid leave, health care, and other benefits.

"To assist these workers, experts point to economic measures already proposed by the Biden administration, like eviction moratoriums and increases in the minimum wage and nutrition benefits," Fowers reports. "These could help low-education workers get through the immediate crisis. But a full economic recovery for workers with a high school education or less depends on ending the global pandemic."

Pamela Loprest, an economist at the Urban Institute, told Fowers that policymakers must also fix longtime challenges lower-education workers face with measures such as raising the minimum wage, implementing paid leave laws, making education more accessible, and helping workers move where their skills are in greater demand and they can get paid more.