Thank you for your interest in How COVID-19 Affected the Quality of Work.
How COVID-19 Affected the Quality of Work
Discover new insights on worsening job quality during the COVID-19 pandemic in the 2020 Great Jobs Report, a research partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Omidyar Network and Lumina Foundation.
In addition to upending social interactions, the COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly affected work in the United States and forced millions of people into unemployment. Conventional labor market indicators document some of these changes but miss how the pandemic has affected the quality of work and played out differently for low-income workers and those working in low-quality jobs at the onset of the crisis.
How COVID-19 Affected the Quality of Work addresses these issues using the 2020 Great Jobs Survey, which builds on the 2019 study to measure worker satisfaction across 11 important dimensions of work and provide the first comprehensive measure of U.S. job quality beyond income and benefits.
Key findings:
- Workers' job quality before the pandemic strongly predicts job quality changes during the pandemic.
- COVID-19-related job and income losses have skewed heavily toward Hispanic and Black workers, as well as those with lower education and income levels.
- Access to remote work has opened new gaps in job quality.
40% of U.S. workers have experienced worsening job quality since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
72% of workers who started the pandemic in good jobs strongly agree their employer is taking all necessary safety precautions.
45% of remote workers report improved job quality.
More Great Jobs Insights
Download the 2019 Great Jobs report -- Not Just a Job: New Evidence on the Quality of Work in the United States -- and related dataset or read briefings that explore the opportunities available to low-income and non-college-educated workers for good jobs.
Not Just a Job: New Evidence on the Quality of Work in the United States
Find out what matters most to U.S. workers and how the quality of their current job compares to the quality of life they want.
The Characteristics of Good Jobs for Low-Income Workers
The median personal income among workers in the bottom quintile of the income distribution in the U.S. is just $13,000. Gallup's Great Jobs research shows that these workers tend to be dissatisfied with several core attributes of their work, not just low pay. Download the briefing to learn more.
Professional Certifications Offer Workers With No College Degree a Pathway to Good Jobs
Efforts to expand the use of certifications in industries like healthcare and education may help workers who have no postsecondary education work their way up from entry-level jobs to positions that offer a clear path to advancement. Download the briefing to learn more.
2020 Report: How COVID-19 Affected the Quality of Work
More Great Jobs Insights
Download the 2019 Great Jobs report -- Not Just a Job: New Evidence on the Quality of Work in the United States -- and related dataset or read briefings that explore the opportunities available to low-income and non-college-educated workers for good jobs.
Not Just a Job: New Evidence on the Quality of Work in the United States
Find out what matters most to U.S. workers and how the quality of their current job compares to the quality of life they want.
The Characteristics of Good Jobs for Low-Income Workers
The median personal income among workers in the bottom quintile of the income distribution in the U.S. is just $13,000. Gallup's Great Jobs research shows that these workers tend to be dissatisfied with several core attributes of their work, not just low pay. Download the briefing to learn more.
Professional Certifications Offer Workers With No College Degree a Pathway to Good Jobs
Efforts to expand the use of certifications in industries like healthcare and education may help workers who have no postsecondary education work their way up from entry-level jobs to positions that offer a clear path to advancement. Download the briefing to learn more.
Read the full report.
To download How COVID-19 Affected the Quality of Work or the 2020 summary data, please fill out the form below. You will receive an email with a link to download. Someone from Gallup may also contact you about your interest in this topic.