Why teaching, nursing and journalism have a retention crisis

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The first half of 2024 has been brutal for the journalism industry, with thousands of layoffs at newspapers and media outlets around the U.S.

Matthew Powers, a communication scholar at the University of Washington, explains how journalism’s plight is representative of broader challenges facing professions dedicated to societal good, such as nursing, teaching, social work and caregiving. These roles – pillars of community cohesion and an informed democracy – are what sociologist Max Weber called “vocations,” where the work involved is connected to values like healing people, fighting injustice and imparting knowledge.

Yes, the pay might not be great. But for decades, it was enough to get by. Not so anymore. On top of that, many teachers, journalists, social workers and nurses have to contend with administrative burdens and smaller budgets.

Yet, despite stagnant wages and diminishing job security, people still want these jobs. To Powers, the fact that so many workers still sign up for these careers, only to become disillusioned, is “a reflection of a society unable to satisfy its citizens’ basic desires for finding meaning through the work they do.”

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Nick Lehr

Arts + Culture Editor

Journalist Barbara Walters works at her desk at her home in New York in 1966. Rowland Scherman/Getty Images

Journalism has become ground zero for the vocation crisis

Matthew Powers, University of Washington

Whether you’re a reporter, a teacher or a nurse, it’s becoming more difficult to find meaning in your work.

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