A recurring issue in graduate education concerns the ability of graduates to find employment in careers consistent with their expectations. Drawing upon data from a national sample of recent science and engineering (S&E) doctorate holders[1] collected in the 1997 Survey of Doctorate Recipients (SDR), this Issue Brief addresses the following questions about the labor market outcomes of recent doctorate holders: To what extent are recent doctorate holders entering academic[2] versus non-academic employment and are those entering academia employed in tenure-track jobs? And to what extent are the types of academic jobs obtained associated with background characteristics like field of study, sex, and race/ethnicity?

Overall, 47 percent of recent S&E doctorate holders were employed in the academic sector, 49 percent were employed in a non-academic sector, and 4 percent were not working in 1997 (table�1). Across the broad fields of graduate education from which the respondents earned their doctorates,[3] recent life sciences doctorate holders were most likely and engineering doctorate holders were the least likely to be employed in academia.

In terms of demographic backgrounds, a higher percentage of females than males were employed in academia, as were higher percentages of blacks, Hispanics, and non-Hispanic whites, compared to Asians/Pacific Islanders. These differences by sex and race/ethnicity reflect in part the differences among these groups in their doctorate fields. Women compared to men are more likely to earn their doctoral degrees in the life sciences or social sciences than in the physical sciences or engineering, and doctorate holders in the life sciences and social sciences are more likely to be employed in the academic sector. Similarly, Asians/Pacific Islanders are more highly represented in engineering than in social sciences, a factor related to being less likely to be employed in the academic sector.[4]

Recent computer and mathematical science doctorate holders have the highest concentration in four-year colleges and universities (86 percent). The proportions of recent physical science, engineering, and social science doctorate holders employed by four-year institutions range from 73 to 77 percent. Recent life science doctorate holders are more likely than other recent doctorate holders to work in medical schools (41 percent) and much less likely to work in a four-year college or university.

Women are less likely than men to work in a four-year college or university (61 versus 68 percent), but more likely to work in a medical school (25 versus 19 percent). These differences reflect the higher concentration of women doctorate holders in the life sciences compared to men, and thus the greater likelihood of working in a medical school.

Types of academic employment also vary by race/ethnicity of the recent S&E doctorate holders. Asian/Pacific Islander doctorate holders show the highest proportion working in medical schools (29 percent). Again, this reflects the higher concentration of Asians/Pacific Islanders earning doctoral degrees in the life sciences. Blacks have the highest proportion of all the racial/ethnic categories working in four-year colleges and universities (76 percent).

The tenure status of those employed in academia varies by broad field of doctoral study (table�4). Most likely to be tenured or on a tenure track are recent computer and mathematical science doctorate holders (62 percent), followed by those in the social sciences (53 percent) and engineering (51 percent). In contrast, recent life science (28 percent) and physical science (32 percent) doctorate holders are the least likely. Their early careers are more likely to include a postdoc placement (45 and 39 percent), slowing the transition into tenure-track positions. No statistically significant female-male differences in tenure status are seen, but blacks and Hispanics are more likely than non-Hispanic whites and Asians/Pacific Islanders to be tenured or in a tenure-track appointment. Asians/Pacific Islanders are the most likely of the racial/ethnic groups to hold postdocs and the least likely to be tenured or in a tenure track. Again, this reflects the concentration of Asians/Pacific Islanders in the physical sciences, engineering, and life sciences, where postdoc appointments are more common than in the social sciences.

This Issue Brief was prepared by Thomas Hoffer, a senior research scientist, and Lance Selfa, a survey analyst, both from NORC at the University of Chicago. For more information on the Survey of Doctorate Recipients, see http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/doctoratework/ or contact: