Women, young people, minorities disproportionately affected by COVID closures, data finds
It wasn’t long ago that theater lights dimmed, hotel lobbies emptied and airport check-in counters stopped churning out tickets.
As the pandemic hit, we saw many businesses shutter. Now, new data is showing just how much COVID affected the tourism and travel sectors.
"It was an interesting time," said Brandon Cordrey, an artist who is the former executive director of Visual Arts Exchange. "Most of our earned income and the way that we interacted with the public was through in person events, and obviously, that needed to cease."
Recently, after spending two decades as an art administrator, he made a change, leaving the industry.
"The pandemic sort of shifted my frame of mind in a way that led my career in a different direction," Cordrey said.
He isn't the only person who left that sector, though. Data from the Census Bureau shows that the number of people employed in the arts, entertainment and recreation industries in North Carolina dropped by 25% from the first quarter of 2020 to the second quarter of 2021.
Women, younger people and those who are racial and ethnic minorities were disproportionately impacted by closures in this travel, tourism and outdoor recreation sector.
Other inequalities are present in the data, which suggest diversity in these fields are from the labor force, not the employer or upper management.
Cordrey says, after spending years in these fields, he isn’t surprised at all by any of these findings.
"I think about the people that I've worked with on events over the years and that sounds pretty right on for me."
The data we have now goes back to the second quarter of 2021, before many people quit their jobs in what's now called "the great resignation." Those with the census say they suspect the number of people in this sector of the workforce is even lower now.
