Where the jobs are(n't)

**Updated**: In the comments section, Cian Dorr pointed out that Zombie's 110 jobs number was off, as Zombie only counted unexpired jobs on philjobs. My initial count of AOS did not make this mistake. I had gone all the way back to August, which upon double-checking was >160 jobs. In any case, I have gone back a second time, this time all the way to July, and have now listed the breakdown of AOS for 195 jobs.

I recently came across a facebook thread in which someone asked if there was a list of the distribution of this year's TT jobs by AOS. Since the answer to their question was, "No", I figured I'd put together a list myself.

Below is a list I compiled from this year's JFP so far, in alphabetical order by AOS. A few notes: (1) I have not included jobs from other job boards (e.g. HigherEd Jobs, Vitae, etc.); (2) I have only included TT jobs; (3) I have simply tallied the number of times each AOS was listed, so the list does not distinguish between jobs that listed one vs. multiple AOS--with one exception, jobs that listed "The Core" (metaphysics, epistemology, mind & language).

So, without further ado, here's the list:

• Aesthetics: 6
• African American philosophy: 1
• Agency Theory: 1
• Ancient: 6
• Applied Ethics: 35
• Asian: 3
• Biology: 1
• Catholic: 1
• Classical German philosophy:
• Classical: 1
• Cognitive Science: 5
• Comparative (Western & non-western):
• Continental: 9
• "Core" (M&E+Lang+Mind): 4
• Early Modern: 7
• Epistemology: 13
• Ethics: 37
• Feminist philosophy: 5
• Gender: 1
• German philosophy: 1
• History of philosophy: 3
• History of phil science: 2
• Indian: 1
• Islamic: 3
• Kant: 2
• Language: 3
• Law: 3
• Logic: 1
• Lonergan studies: 1
• Math: 2
• Medieval: 5
• Meta-ethics: 3
• Metaphysics: 11
• Mind: 15
• Modern: 3
• Nineteenth Century: 2
• Non-Western: 1
• Open: 37
• Psychology: 1
• Phil Science & Technology:
• Politics, Philosophy, and Economics: 5
• Pragmatism: 2
• Race: 1
• Science: 12
• Science and Technology Studies: 5
• Social-Political: 20

Right offhand, a number of notable trends pop out. First, this looks like a terrible job season so far. Over at the Smoker, Zombie has tallied only 110 tenure-track jobs [note: now, going back all the way to June, it doesn't look quite so bad--though most AOS are still in the single digits).  Second, the most in-demand AOS this year are ethics (37 listings), applied ethics (35) jobs, open (37), and social-political (20). So, value theory's looking comparatively good. Third, it's surprising (to me, at any rate) how few jobs are in the "core", though Mind isn't doing too bad (15 listings). 

Comments

[A Reiheld]

I suspect that with the evisceration of retirement/pension as well as salary at both public and private institutions (resulting in less savings over a career), we will see senior faculty holding on to their jobs longer and longer with less turnover and fewer opportunities. Combined with programs producing vastly more PhDs than the market could accommodate at its best, this is a recipe for disaster for the job-hunting PhD-holder in Philosophy.

[Zombie]

Thanks for doing that, Marcus.

I'm a bit stunned by the low number of jobs this year. One would hope (vainly, apparently) that things would get better rather than worse as we put 2008-9 (the annus horribilis) behind us.

[Chris Framarin]

There were at least 5 tenure track job ads in Asian Philosophy this year. All were listed on philjobs:

University of New Mexico
University of Dayton
College of Staten Island CUNY
Fashion Institute of Technology
Yale NUS - Singapore

[Marcus Arvan]

Chris: Thanks for the correction! I listed the FIT job as "open" because it merely listed "non-Western traditions", which I wasn't how to properly categorize.

[David Killoren]

Five jobs were posted just today. I think there's still a very good chance that a lot more departments are moving more slowly this year because of the decreased prominence of the Eastern.

[Keith Buhler]

This is a very helpful list. Simple.

I wonder if I could make a spreadsheet with this list and keep track of next year's to plot trends.

Are past years available?

Here's the link:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1PNSYD7u8kZKFa-e2_4phC0IwwHqSwi4GXhyfB_U_fsQ/edit#gid=0

Keith
PhD student, University of Kentucky
Est. graduation 2017

[Marcus Arvan]

Hi David: that's quite possible. Let's hope so!

Keith: Thanks for the link to the spreadsheet. This is the first year I've compiled anything like this, but it seems like a worthwhile thing to keep track of from year to year!

[Anon]

What school advertised an AOS: Logic job? Nothing is coming up using the philjobs search and filters.

[Marcus Arvan]

Hi Anon: Thanks for the question! The Leeds job lists Logic as an AOS (http://philjobs.org/job/show/3384 )

[Cian Dorr]

I believe the number 110 mentioned in the post is the number of *unexpired* tenure-track job ads currently on PhilJobs. The total number of jobs is larger, since many ads had deadlines that have now passed. By my count, there have been 188 ads for tenure track or open rank jobs posted since June, whereas last year year by this date there had been 202 such ads. These precise numbers should not be taken very seriously, but they suggest that this year is not so different from last year.

[Marcus Arvan]

Cian: You appear to be right. I took Zombie's word on the 110 number, but when I go back to check the jobs I tallied AOS for (I went back through August), the number is >160. So, the 110 number is off, but it doesn't really affect my AOS breakdown. Fwiw, I think going back to June (as you did) may be too far. This year's philosophy TT market looks to me to have started in August or thereabouts.

[Cian Dorr]

In June and July I'm seeing 7 TT ads, of which 5 had start dates in Fall 2015 and 2 had start dates in Fall 2014. On the other hand two more TT jobs - Michigan-Flint and St Andrews - have been advertised since I did my count.

[Marcus Arvan]

Hi Cian: Thanks for following up. As I note in my update, I went back and updated the entire list going all the way back to June. The new breakdown includes all jobs going back to June.

[Zombie]

My current count, including expired jobs, going back to August 2014 (anything before that I'd consider the previous job season, but it's debatable), is 195. But looking at hires last year (again, just what was reported at philjobs), there were 212. Since the hires are self-reported, I would assume that number to be low. Still looks to me like the number of job ads this year is below last year by a fair bit.

[David Bourget]

Note that some ads on PJ:JFP advertise more than one job. There is no easy way to count vacancies on the site, but I've compiled some stats for you. Here are some counts of vacancies for 2013 and 2014 (adds posted between Aug 1 and Nov 25):

2013, tenure track: 203
2014, tenure track: 187
2013, tenure track, continuing, or open: 259
2014, tenure track, continuing, or open: 252

(Note that when you select "Tenure track" on PJ:JFP, you are also shown open jobs. My two first counts above don't include open jobs. This is why my numbers are lower than those reported by other contributors to this thread.)

Many non-US jobs of a TT-like nature fall under "continuing", so what this suggests is that there's been a small decrease in the number of TT-like jobs on the US side but not outside the US. Indeed, there were 180 vacancies for tenure truck jobs in the US in 2013 for this period, and only 169 this year.

[Lost]

Any chance for a similar breakdown for this year's market?

[Marcus Arvan]

Hi Lost: Great idea. I'll get on it!