Understanding the Psychology Job Market

This analytical project examines the characteristics of advertisements for psychology jobs posted on PsycCareers in 2015-17. The features examined range from seasonal trends and geographic distribution to employment characteristics and job qualifications, such as skills and experience. Findings are available through data tools and a series of reports which take a closer look at particular groups of psychology job advertisements.

PsycCareers is a job advertising and search platform that allows employers to post openings for psychology-based positions for a fee. The platform is specifically designed for the psychology workforce and is therefore a unique source for examining the psychology job market across the U.S. and spanning a variety of work settings, job types and work activities. While the data collected from PsycCareers represent only a segment of all job ads for psychologists and may not be completely representative as a result, it does provide a more robust view of the psychology job market than was previously available.

• The majority of job advertisements were for health service psychologist positions (48 percent) and faculty positions (37 percent).
• Most job ads were for positions located in the Northeast and Pacific coast regions.
• 93 percent of job ads that specified a minimum educational requirement asked for a doctoral degree.
• The most commonly specified skills were "leadership skills" and "cultural awareness".

Use the data tools and reports below to learn more about these and other findings.

Overview of Psychology Job Advertisements, 2015-17

Explore trends, geographic distribution, employment and qualification characteristics of psychology job ads.

Overview Data Tool

Qualifications Specified in Psychology Job Advertisements, 2015-17

Explore skills, traits, subfields and specialty qualifications specified in psychology job ads.

Qualifications Data Tool

2015-17 Psychology Job Advertisements: An Overview

This report provides an overview of all psychology job advertisements posted on PsycCareers from 2015 through 2017, including seasonal trends, geographic distribution, job type, employment characteristics and job qualifications.

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2015-17 Job Advertisements for Applied Psychologists Positions

This report examines the characteristics of job advertisements for applied psychologist positions posted on PsycCareers in the period 2015-17. Applied psychologist positions include those in the fields of forensic psychology, human factors and engineering psychology, and industrial-organizational psychology.

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2015-17 Job Advertisements for Psychology Faculty Positions

The report provides information on job advertisements on PsycCareers for faculty positions in the period 2015-17. Faculty positions included professors, associate professors, assistant professors, deans, chairs and other faculty positions.

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2015-17 Job Advertisements for Health Service Psychologist Positions

This report provides information on job advertisements on PsycCareers for health service psychologist positions in the period 2015-17. Health service psychologist positions included positions that provided health and psychological services, such as clinical psychologist, counseling psychologist and school psychologist.

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2015-17 Job Advertisements for Psychology Leadership Positions

This report examines the characteristics of job advertisements for leadership positions posted on PsycCareers in the period 2015-17. Examples of leadership positions include president, provost, director, manager, CEO and chief executive.

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2015-17 Job Advertisements for Researcher Positions in Psychology

This report examines the characteristics of advertisements for researcher positions posted on PsycCareers in the period 2015-17. Examples of researcher positions include research psychologist, post-doctoral researcher and research scientist.

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Our monthly “datapoint” fact sheets published on APA's Monitor on Psychology.

• Seasonal trends in ads for psychology jobs
• Top 5 skills employers seek in psychologists

The technical documentation provides more information on methods and definition of terminologies used in this project.

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