New data from the American Historical Association add to the bad news for academic job seekers in the humanities. The number of job postings the AHA received in 2014-15 was down 8 percent from the prior year. This is the third straight year for which the association is reporting a decline. Job listings are down 45 percent from the 1,064 that the association reported in 2011-12. Not all faculty jobs are listed with disciplinary associations, but many are, and most experts on the academic job market believe that the ups and downs of disciplinary association listings are a reliable barometer of the market as a whole. This year, the jobs news has not been good in the humanities. In December, for example, the Modern Language Association reported declines in the number of jobs in English and foreign languages. In history, the situation may be especially challenging for new Ph.D.s, because their numbers have continued to grow as the market has become so tight.

February 5, 2016 ・ From Inside Higher Ed