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Since most non-exempt higher education staff employees perform work that must be completed on campus, there was a drastic decline in the staff workforce size during the pandemic. CUPA-HR’s 2021 Staff in Higher Education Annual Report reveals that the part-time non-exempt staff workforce experienced a 17 percent decrease. The prior academic year, the same group grew by 16.4 percent. In comparison, the full-time non-exempt staff workforce saw a significantly smaller (3.2 percent) decrease in size.
Service/maintenance staff experienced a 4.1 percent decrease, followed by office/clerical staff with a 3.3 percent decrease and skilled craft staff with a 2.0 percent decrease. Technical/paraprofessional employees actually experienced a 1.3 percent increase in workforce size, but this increase was not as large as the prior year’s 3.4 percent increase.
CUPA-HR says, “It is too early to speculate as to whether these job losses are permanent or temporary. Next year’s data collection will reveal how many of these positions return when more on-campus operations resume.”
For all staff positions — office/clerical, service/maintenance, technical/paraprofessional, and skilled craft — median salary increases were below 1 percent.
In service/maintenance and skilled craft positions, women are less represented. In all staff positions, except office/clerical positions, women are paid less than men. Women are paid more in office/clerical positions. Minority women are better represented than minority men, making up 20 percent of part-time non-exempt staff. Minority men make up 13.3 percent of staff overall.
CUPA-HR reports, “If the minimum wage is raised to the proposed $15/hour, as of 2021, 23 percent of staff would require a salary adjustment.” Currently, 40 percent of service/maintenance staff make below the proposed $15/hour. Across the nation, the South would see the largest impacts, where 29 percent of staff would require salary adjustments.
To learn more about the “Staff in Higher Education Survey,” read the overview. Salaries, demographic comparisons, and detailed trend information are available in the full report.
About CUPA-HR
CUPA-HR is the recognized authority on compensation surveys for higher education, with its salary surveys designed by higher ed HR professionals for higher ed HR professionals and other campus leaders. 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 over 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.
