Academic Jobs on the Rise

By Indy Hurt - GradDiv Academic Peer

Are you worried about the academic job market?  Are you expecting this economy to work against you when you're ready to hit the pavement looking for that tenure track position you've spent the last 4, 5, 6 years preparing for?  Well, you may be able to put some of those worries behind you because things may just be looking up. 

We all held our breath a few years ago when academic job advertisements were declining.  An analysis of 2010 shows a remarkable recovery.  HigherEdJobs has just released its Higher Education Employment Report for the Fourth Quarter of 2010 and findings are definitely in our favor.  As baby boomers are eyeing retirement, we are poised to take our places in the academy.  

HigherEdJobs reports the following key findings:

Growth in the number of jobs in higher education accelerated in 2010 compared to previous years and is significantly outpacing the U.S. economy as a whole.

Advertised job openings in higher education, which were negatively affected by the recession, experienced significant growth throughout 2010.

Colleges and universities continued to focus on recruiting administrators and executives over faculty now that the recession is declared over. However, in absolute numbers, recruiting for all position types (including faculty) is up.

Both hiring and employment at community colleges continued to be strong in Q4 2010 and throughout 2010, according to data from HigherEdJobs and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The ratio of part-time to full-time postings in higher education, which grew during the recession and continued to moderate throughout most of 2010, began to decline as the year drew to an end.

Higher education job postings increased in all regions of the country, with the greatest growth observed in the http://www.higheredjobs.com/documents/HEJ_Employment_Report_2010_Q4.pdfMountain and New England regions, and weakest in the West South Central area.

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT ON STUDENT AFFAIRS JOBS: Postings for jobs in student affairs began to recover when the recession ended and improved dramatically throughout 2010.

Interested in the details?  Follow this link to read the full report:  HigherEdJobs 2010 4th Quarter Report