From the APSA Member Newsletter
Job Market at 64% of Last Year
The number of new assistant professor positions is perhaps the best indicator to use for a quick look into current academic job posting conditions. As of December 31, 2009, 360 assistant professor positions have been posted to APSA's eJobs database.
This is 64% of the number of listings posted at the same time last year, and 61% of the mean number of listings annually for the past 5 years. By this marker, the market is indeed tight...
Overall placement for AY 2008-2009 tracked placement of recent years: 864 new graduates were placed, with 464 in permanent academic positions, 198 in temporary positions, and 151 in positions outside of academia.
For comparison, in 2002, 297 were placed in permanent positions and 317 in temporary academic jobs.
Definitely not good news for those on the market this year or in the years to come.
