Data Reveals Spike in Nonprofit Jobs During Great Recession

The great recession of 2008 hit most business sectors hard, leading to layoffs and downsizing. But according to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, at least one type of enterprise kept adding jobs all the way through, poor economy notwithstanding: nonprofits.

The data shows that the nonprofit sector played a counter-cyclical role in the last recession, staffing up when the everyone else was cutting back. Nonprofit watchers had suspected as much during previous downturns, but didn't know for sure until the bureau came out with numbers about employment.