Employment trends in academic psychology

• In 2013, approximately 35,300 psychology doctorate recipients were employed full time at four-year educational institutions.¹
• Among those who were out of graduate school for 10 or more years, 62 percent were employed as tenured or tenure-track faculty. For psychology doctorates with less than 10 years since doctorate, 44 percent were tenured (12 percent) or tenure track (32 percent). Another 37 percent (4,200) were employed in jobs where tenure was not applicable, such as research and postdoctoral positions.^2,3
• In 2001, 9 percent of junior psychology faculty (with less than 10 years since doctorate) occupied tenured positions. This number increased by 3 percentage points to 12 percent in 2013. This increase was the largest across STEM disciplines.
• For more senior psychology faculty (with 10 or more years since doctorate), there was a decrease of 8 percentage points in tenured positions between 2001 (65 percent) and 2013 (57 percent). Similar decreases were found for other STEM disciplines, with the smallest decrease in social sciences and physical sciences, and the largest in health sciences.

For more information, contact APA's Center for Workforce Studies at cws@apa.orgopens in new window.

¹Does not include PsyD recipients. Four-year educational institutions include four-year colleges or universities, medical schools (including university-affiliated or medical centers) and university-affiliated research institutes. Data source: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, (2001–13); Survey of Doctorate Recipients (SDR). Retrieved from https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/srvydoctorates/opens in new window. The use of NSF data does not imply NSF endorsement of research, research methods or conclusions contained in this report.

²Employment numbers are collapsed across the following academic ranks: Full professor, associate professor, assistant professor, and lecturer/instructor.

³"Tenure not applicable" refers to no tenure system for either the institution or the employee's position. In addition to research and postdoctoral positions, this option includes adjunct faculty.