{"id":575541,"date":"2021-08-06T20:01:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-07T00:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.the74million.org\/?post_type=article&p=575541"},"modified":"2021-10-22T17:21:30","modified_gmt":"2021-10-22T21:21:30","slug":"recession-recovery-robotics-can-cte-and-renos-reinvented-schools-avert-a-covid-classroom-crisis","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.the74million.org\/article\/recession-recovery-robotics-can-cte-and-renos-reinvented-schools-avert-a-covid-classroom-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Recession, Recovery & Robotics: Can CTE and Reno’s Reinvented Schools Avert a COVID Classroom Crisis?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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On Nov. 28, 2020, the COVID-19 infection rate in Washoe County, Nevada, crested at 113 new cases per 100,000 residents. What that grim statistic meant to residents of Reno, Tahoe and the county\u2019s other small cities depended greatly on their socioeconomic status. 
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Employment on that day, for instance, was down 1 percent over January 2020 \u2014 low, but also deceptive. Employment among middle-income workers, those making $27,000 to $60,000 a year, was flat.<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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But among those making less than $27,000, it fell 22 percent. Meanwhile, for residents earning more than the area\u2019s median income, employment actually rose an astonishing 19 percent.<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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That disparity is a glaring illustration of the so-called K-shaped economic recovery \u2014 one of the features of the pandemic recession that most troubles economists.<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Past economic slumps have had more of a V-shape: an across-the-board dip followed by a relatively uniform and quick return to pre-recession conditions.<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

T<\/span>his time is different. For many high earners, those at the top of the K, COVID\u2019s roiling effect on the economy was a blip. They may be working remotely, but they\u2019re working. They are not, however, spending money the way they did before COVID-19, on restaurant meals, growlers, travel, mani-pedis, Uber rides \u2014 services their lower-income neighbors provide as they eke out a living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The week that Reno\u2019s case count peaked, small-business revenue in the area was down as much as 31 percent. But overall, consumer spending dropped as little as 8 percent. The money was still flowing \u2014 just not to the folks at the bottom of the K. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a problem nationwide, and likely to worsen in coming years<\/a>, because many of the low-wage jobs lost since the start of the pandemic won\u2019t be replaced, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Jobs that will require a college or graduate degree, such as health care and technology occupations, are expected to grow. But those requiring a high school diploma or less \u2014 chief among them the restaurant, hotel and customer service jobs whose workers who have long been the spine of Reno\u2019s economy \u2014 will continue to contract. Early indicators show COVID has accelerated this shift, which has broad implications for K-12 education. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the pandemic recession struck, economists John Friedman and Raj Chetty realized it looked different from previous downturns. While even small changes in the way money changes hands create ripples, COVID was a shockwave. Co-founders of Opportunity Insights<\/a> \u2014 a team at Harvard University that researches income inequality and education\u2019s potential to lift children out of poverty \u2014 they persuaded credit card companies, payroll processors and other businesses that track money as it moves through the economy in real time to turn over what are essentially trade secrets. Using that information, the researchers built a nationwide online pandemic tracker capable of providing a down-to-the-day snapshot of who is spending and who is struggling, by income level, city, state and county and, in some instances, by zip code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The data quickly revealed stunning implications on virtually every front.<\/p>\n\n\n

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