Dear members,

As a follow up to our recent NO JOBS IN ITALIAN STUDIES discussion, Gloria
Allaire has extracted some data from the MLA Newsletter (summer 1998) about
the last MLA Ph.D. Placement Census, which I happily (i.e. happy about
Gloria, though less so about the data) forward to the list. Those of you
who are not yet members of the MLA and therefore do not receive
informations of this kind on a regular basis might want to check the
websites listed below and study the conditions for membership.

"New Data from the 1996-97 MLA PhD Placement Census"

Because employment trends are of great interest to MLA members, the
association undertook a new study of PhD placement in fall 1997.  The
study covers persons to whom departments awarded PhDs between 1 September
1996 and 31 August 1997.

Response Analysis Corporation (RAC) of Princeton, New Jersey, conducted
the survey.  In November RAC mailed questionnaires to the 550 PhD-granting
programs in the MLA database, including programs in English, foreign
languages, comparative literature, linguistics, and classics.  Data
collection was completed at the end of February, and the final response
rate was 97%.  The high response rate means that for all practical
purposes the study is a census of PhD placement in 1996-97.

The study covers 2,332 PhD recipients--1,226 in English, 715 in foreign
languages, 116 in comparative literature, 220 in linguistics, and 55 in
classics--2,153 of whom have a known employment status.  The persons whose
employment status was reported as "unknown" are not included among the
base for calculating the placement percentages...  Also subtracted from
the base are foreign nationals who returned to their countries of origin,
since they did not seek employment in the United States or Canada....

The MLA's last survey of PhD placement covered the period 1 September 1993
to 31 August 1994.  A comparison of findings from the 1996-97 census with
findings for 1993-94 reveals several noteworthy facts. (The comparisons
below are limited to... foreign languages.)

For foreign languages between 1993-94 and 1996-97:

-Placement to tenure-track positions declined from 45.9% to 40.6%, a 12%
drop.

-Placement to full- and part-time non-tenure-track positions increased
from 30.6% to 35.5%, a 16% increase.

-The number of PhDs seeking positions increased.  The number of PhDs
awarded to job seekers whose employment status was reported as known
increased by 127, or 25%, from 499 to 626.

-The rate of placement to employment outside the academy remained almost
unchanged between 1993-94 and 1996-97, at 11.8% and 12.1% respectively.

-The percentage reported as not employed was unchanged at 9%.

Complete reports on the 1996-97 census of PhD placement will be published
in the ADE and ADFL bulletins.  Information from the census will also be
available at [the following websites]:

http://www.ade.org

http://www.adfl.ortg

http://www.mla.org - see the Job Information List page.

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