The State of the Academic Job Market, by Discipline

The academic job market is showing signs of recovery in the wake of the recent recession. But improvements are uneven across fields and within them.

Following is a collection of the latest job-market reports issued by major scholarly associations, accompanied by background articles from The Chronicle. These listings are not intended to be comprehensive, and do not include all disciplines.

Sociology (Last updated: 8/12/2014)

Jobs Stay Stable, With a Caveat

Take a quick glance at the top-line numbers, and it looks like the sociology market is largely unchanged. But dig a little deeper, and you’ll see that non-sociology and “joint sociology” jobs hit a new high. Read the association’s latest job-market report here.

History (Last updated: 1/2/2014)

Job Listings Fall 7.3% for History Ph.D.'s, Association Reports

The job market has yet to return to prerecession levels while the number of new doctorates in the field continues to climb. Read the report here.

Economics (Last updated: 12/11/2013)

Academic Jobs Fall

The number of new academic job openings listed with the association fell 6.6 percent in 2013. However, the number of nonacademic jobs rose slightly. Consult a jobs database for economists here.

Foreign Languages and English (Last updated: 10/30/2013)

Modest Decline in 2012-13

The Modern Language Association said the drop reversed a rebound in job advertisements over the previous two years. Read the MLA’s report here.

Political Science (Last updated: 6/2013)

Not as Good as Last Year, but Not Bad

The number of academic jobs posted with the American Political Science Association fell in 2012-13 from the year before, but the totals remained well above the recent low mark, in 2009-10. Read the report here.