Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Job Market for Economics Ph.D.'s

In a post in today's Inside Higher Ed, Scott Jaschik discusses the latest annual jobs report from the American Economic Association.

Ne notes:
"A new report by the American Economic Association found that its listings for jobs for economics Ph.D.s increased by 8.5 percent in 2015, to 3,309. Academic jobs increased to 2,458, from 2,290. Non-academic jobs increased to 846 from 761." 
(That's an 11.1% increase for non-academic jobs, and a 7.3% increase for academic positions.)

The bounce-back in demand for graduates since 2008 is impressive:
"Economics, like most disciplines, took a hit after 2008. Between then and 2010, the number of listings fell to 2,285 from 2,914. But this year's 3,309 is greater not only than the 2008 level, but of every year from 2001 on. The number of open positions also far exceeds the number of new Ph.D.s awarded in economics."
And here's the really good news for readers of this blog:
"As has been the case in recent years, the top specialization in job listings is mathematical and quantitative methods."

© 2015, David E. Giles