Job losses during the pandemic have hit workers in low-wage occupations particularly hard – something that distinguishes this downturn from the Great Recession, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of government data. From December 2019 to December 2020, the percentage decrease in employment in low-wage occupations was more than twice as great as in middle-wage occupations (-12.5% vs. -5.3%). At the same time, employment in high-wage occupations increased marginally over this period.

The Center’s survey, conducted Jan. 19-24, finds that 49% of adults who are unemployed and looking for work say they are pessimistic they will find a job in the near future: 18% are very pessimistic about this and 31% are somewhat pessimistic. A similar share (51%) are optimistic, with 15% saying they are very optimistic and 36% saying they are somewhat optimistic.

For some, that positive outlook comes with a caveat. Among those who say they’re optimistic about finding a job, a substantial minority – 37% – say they are not too or not at all confident they will find a job that pays as much and provides the same benefits they had in their last job. Among all unemployed adults, 55% say they are not confident they’ll find a job with the same income and benefits; 45% say they are somewhat or very confident this will happen.

Not only are many unemployed adults feeling discouraged about their future job prospects, two-thirds say that, since losing their jobs, they have seriously considered changing their occupation or field of work. This sentiment is shared by lower-income unemployed adults, as well as those with middle or upper incomes. (Incomes are based on 2019 earnings.) A third of unemployed adults say they have already taken steps to retool their skills by pursuing job retraining programs or educational opportunities.

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About half of U.S. adults who are currently unemployed are pessimistic about their prospects for future employment, and most say they’ve seriously considered changing fields or occupations since they’ve been unemployed. https://t.co/vGFmxJFB8o

— Pew Research Center (@pewresearch) February 12, 2021

All that changed last year, however, when joining another church became an option – a church 2,000 miles away.

Ms. Schultz began worshipping at Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas, one of many making room during the pandemic for new “virtual members” who attend only online. She watches services on YouTube in her bathrobe, attends social gatherings on Zoom, and is glad to be rid of what she calls “the judgment factor” that she’s too often felt when visiting churches in person. So when Wilshire Senior Pastor George Mason started inviting online attendees to join the congregation, no matter where they live, she eagerly signed up.

“It’s nice to be seen, noticed, and welcomed when you show up alone,” says Ms. Schultz, who tithes to her faraway church and sometimes has a speaking role during worship. “It feels like less pressure when you’re behind a screen. You don’t have to talk, but you can talk when you’re ready to talk.”

It’s a pandemic shift no one saw coming at the start of 2020. Churches that had long assumed their members would live nearby are no longer resigned to geographic constraints. As congregations have gone online to maintain ministries while social distancing, new worshippers from other regions have been showing up. Now some are getting even more involved. They’re becoming part of the fabric of church life as members, regular donors, and active participants in a host of church activities.

“Online really is a way to reach people that maybe we couldn’t reach in a local setting because some people wouldn’t come into a church building,” says Gary McIntosh, professor of Christian ministry and leadership at Biola University in La Mirada, California, and author of 23 books on church growth. “But they will observe a worship service online, and they will get involved in a small group online

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By going online in the pandemic, local churches began getting visitors from everywhere. What happens when ppl from faraway stick around & become members? The idea of #church gets a makeover.

My report is the cover story in this week's @csmonitor https://t.co/t73utwoQPS

— G. Jeffrey MacDonald (@gjmacdonald) February 10, 2021

Set us free, O heavenly Father, from every bond of prejudice and fear: that, honoring the steadfast courage of thy servants Absalom Jones and Richard Allen, we may show forth in our lives the reconciling love and true freedom of the children of God, which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Day 12 #BlackHistoryMonth2021 Absalom Jones 1st Black American ordained as an Episcopal Priest @episcopalchurch @Talya8news @BaptistPress @13NicoleLivas @guttierez_john @FairfaxJustin @delegateaird @TheTabChoir @CBS6 pic.twitter.com/2nRw3oRMMv

— Kenneth Miller Chief (Ret) (@ChiefPbp) February 12, 2021

O Lord Jesu Christ, who didst bid us to take up our cross daily and follow Thee, make, we pray Thee, the yoke of Thy commandments sweet, and the burden of Thy Cross light, unto our souls. Conform Thy servants, O Lord, to the likeness of Thy Passion. Give us grace, O eternal Father, that we may carry in our hearts the image of Jesus crucified, that, being fashioned after His life-giving death, we may die to the flesh, and live according to the spirit of righteousness, through the merits of the same Thy son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

–Henry Stobart, Daily Services For Christian Households (London:SPCK, 1867), p.76

A few more from this morning’s spectacular sunrise seen from Penistone Hill, just above Haworth.#visitbradford #walkshire #visityorkshire #brontecountry #welcometoyorkshire #sunrise #wintersun #snow #haworth pic.twitter.com/1wnUXNFBtT

— The Rural Spaceman (@AFowlerPhoto) February 12, 2021

You shall no more be termed Forsaken,
and your land shall no more be termed Desolate;
but you shall be called My delight is in her,
and your land Married;
for the Lord delights in you,
and your land shall be married.

For as a young man marries a virgin,
so shall your sons marry you,
and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
so shall your God rejoice over you.

–Isaiah 62:4-5

Sunrise swans pic.twitter.com/XmSzrOV2RW

— Nikon Photographer (@Astrid_Tontson) February 13, 2021