As of the end of 2021, the U.S. nonprofit workforce is estimated to be down by 459,000 jobs — or 3.7 percent — from pre-pandemic levels, an analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data by the Johns Hopkins Center for Civil Society Studies finds.

The sector added an estimated 9,246 jobs in December, regaining just 2 percent of the 468,116 jobs still lost to the COVID-19 pandemic as of November and 0.6 percent of the estimated 1.64 million nonprofit jobs lost during the first three months of the pandemic. The fields that saw the strongest recovery last month were religious, grantmaking, civic, professional, and similar organizations (8 percent of jobs still lost as of November) and social assistance (6.9 percent), followed by education (2.1 percent) and arts, entertainment, and recreation (0.2 percent); health care saw additional job losses of 0.7 percent.

According to the center’s final report tracking the impact of the pandemic on the nonprofit workforce, the remaining lost jobs include 12.5 percent of pre-pandemic workers in nonprofit arts and entertainment organizations; 5.6 percent of those in education; 4 percent of those in religious, grantmaking, and civic associations; and 3.4 percent of those in social service organizations.

Read the full article about U.S. nonprofit workforce at Philanthropy News Digest.