ByAparna Rae,
Contributor.
Nonprofit organizations and the social sector at-large is America’s third-largest employer at 10% of the workforce, comprising 5.2% of GDP and contributing $1.4 trillion to the economy. Nearly a year into federal budget cuts eliminating social safety net programs, closure of USAID and the downstream impact of philanthropy quietly pulling back funding – the sector faces a gathering storm.
A survey and conversations with long-term unemployed social sector workers highlights an employment crisis that threatens not just individual livelihoods, but the sector's foundational capacity to serve communities.
While federal government and technology sector layoffs consistently make headlines, the unfolding jobs crisis within the social sector has received little public attention even as tens of thousands of sector employees have lost jobs in the past year, many due to reorganization or closure of nonprofits.
