Since the COVID-19 pandemic struck in March, industries that employ psychologists have suffered large-scale job losses and cutbacks, according to an analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) dataopens in new window by Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforceopens in new window.
The fields of education, health care and social assistance have seen hundreds of thousands of job losses so far in 2020, with nearly 400,000 jobs cut in educational services, 674,000 in outpatient health care and hospitals, and 495,000 in social assistance. Academic institutions have also been forced to rein in spending amid uncertainty over tuition and other revenue.
Shifting economic factors have also affected practitioners.
“We put the national economy into a medically induced coma,” says Erica Groshen, PhD, an economist at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations and former commissioner of the BLS. “We’re slowly releasing ourselves from that, but now we’re starting to feel the impacts of the recession.”
Many psychologists can perform their work remotely, which helped shield them from job loss during the initial shutdown. Groshen warns that could change.
“Psychologists may be more vulnerable to job loss now that health-care networks, academic institutions and other businesses are restructuring in the face of continued financial hardship,” she says.
Changes in demand for services
In May, Texas-based Baylor Scott & White Health, one of the country’s largest health-care systems, announced 1,200 layoffsopens in new window, including a group of psychologists.
Though the health-care industry is suffering, demand for psychological services has been on the rise—after an initial lull when stay-at-home orders were first rolled out—as Americans juggle isolation, telework, child care and financial hardship.
“At the start of the pandemic, many clients were navigating the tough transition to sheltering at home,” an immediate demand that superseded mental health care, says Jeffrey Zimmerman, PhD, ABPP, past president of APA’s Div. 29 (Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy). “But some mental health professionals were inundated and are now busier than they were prior to COVID,” he says.
An emotional distress hotline operated by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration saw an increase in inquiries of more than 1,000%opens in new window compared with the same period in 2019. Digital mental health services, including Ginger and Livongo, have also reported spikes in demand.
At Mid-Atlantic Behavioral Health, a network of outpatient mental health-care centers in Delaware, existing patients attended more appointments than ever between March and June.
“We’ve seen our highest percentage of held appointments ever in the history of our business,” says Traci Bolander, PsyD, Mid-Atlantic’s practice director.
She cites the company’s established telehealth infrastructure as key to its ability to meet that growing need, which comes from both existing patients requesting more frequent appointments and, increasingly, new patient inquiries. Since March, they have onboarded three new practitioners and promoted two others from part time to full time.
But as the recession unfolds, out-of-work Americans may struggle to pay for such services. Between February and May, more than 5 million U.S. adults lost their health insurance because of layoffs, according to an analysis by consumer advocacy group Families USAopens in new window.
Lost revenue
While psychologists have continued to deliver many therapeutic services effectively via phone or video, psychological testing is less well suited to telehealth. That can mean a loss of revenue for companies like Mid-Atlantic or for psychologists in private practice who conduct a lot of testing.
“We don’t have a good way to test motor, visual and spatial skills electronically,” says Justin Barry, PsyD, a clinical psychologist at AspenPointe, a community mental health clinic in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Some assessment tools, like intelligence tests and motor-heavy measures such as card sorting, can’t be reliably administered during a video session, making it impossible for Barry to complete the neurodevelopmental assessments he typically performs.
School psychologists face similar challenges in conducting remote assessments, but most have continued to provide therapy to children via video sessions. In some parts of the country, pre-pandemic shortages in the field have offered a buffer to COVID-related job loss, says Melissa Bray, PhD, a professor of school psychology at the University of Connecticut’s Neag School of Education and past president of APA’s Div. 16 (School Psychology). That suggests that school psychologists who are out of work might be able to find jobs by moving to another state.
Applied psychology practitioners, such as forensic psychologists conducting child custody evaluations, are juggling ethical considerations that have resulted in lost sessions and income.
“Psychologists must carefully consider the reliability and validity of conducting child interviews or even parent-child observations on a video call,” because someone off-screen might be listening, recording or coaching the child, says Robin Deutsch, PhD, a professor of clinical psychology at William James College in Newton, Massachusetts, and a practitioner at Comprehensive Forensic Associates. As a result, some forensic psychologists have chosen to put cases on hold until evaluations can be conducted in person.
Applied psychologists in industry jobs—such as user-experience researchers and human factors engineers—have had a variety of experiences, says Kim-Phuong Vu, PhD, president of APA’s Div. 21 (Applied Experimental and Engineering Psychology), from merely shifting to telework to lost hours, furloughs and layoffs.
User-experience researchers can largely continue their work remotely, says Peter Hancock, PhD, provost distinguished research professor at the University of Central Florida and past president of Div. 21, but psychologists working in human factors may struggle to do so. Psychophysiology research, for instance, tends to be relatively hands-on, though Hancock says digital monitoring tools such as activity trackers can help.
On one hand, psychological insights on ergonomics, remote work and isolation may be particularly useful to businesses during this uncertain time, which could bode well for applied psychologists, Groshen says.
“But firms under financial stress—particularly those contracting out for these services—will often look to cut any expense they can in order to survive,” she says.
Cuts in academia
As of July, at least 224 academic institutions have made budget cuts, directly affecting more than 51,000 employees, according to The Chronicle of Higher Educationopens in new window. Most of these colleges and universities have instituted furloughs, but layoffs and contract nonrenewals are also occurring. Faculty and staff have also faced pay reductions or the suspension of benefits such as employer contributions to retirement accounts, says Michael Young, PhD, chair of the Council of Graduate Departments of Psychology’s board of directors.
“It’s less clear what’s going to happen with non-tenure-track faculty,” he says.
Some universities are managing budget shortfalls by laying off such faculty, Young says, while others are meeting teaching needs by creating non-tenure-track positions because they can’t make a long-term financial commitment.
Students are also taking a hit, citing concerns such as unsuccessful job searches, delays in degree or internship completion and mounting student loan debt during a recent APA webinar on loan stimulus, student debt and budgeting.
“Often during an economic downturn, more people enter graduate school because they can’t find a job,” says Young, also the head of the psychological sciences department at Kansas State University. “But if departments can’t offer sufficient funding, fewer students may have that option.”
For those completing doctoral degrees, staying in school a bit longer—if funding is available—may be ideal until hiring freezes are lifted, he says. Another option is to look for opportunities outside of academia, for instance in product design, user-experience or marketing roles that involve data analysis and experimental design.
