PhDs By The Numbers: Important Stats for Current and Job Seeking PhDs
BY: LAURA ZHENG, PHD; THOMAS R. COUGHLIN, PHD
Note from the authors: Using multiple sources and data analytics, we present to you with important stats for empowering your PhD and career search.
As students, we spend a lot of time on our research and papers. It’s easy to get lost in the thick of it and forget to think about how your experience ties into the greater field.
In this article, we will zoom out and check out the state of PhDs in America. Our main data source utilized is the Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED).
In this article, you’ll be able to see:
The number of PhDs granted over the years
Relationship of jobs in academics to PhDs
Differences in degrees and gender
Finances/Debt of PhDs
Percentage of PhDs who enter a postdoc
Jobs PhDs going into after graduation
The Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED) is an annual census of all individuals receiving a research doctorate from an accredited US institution in a given academic year. The survey is sponsored by the NSF and 5 other federal agencies. The SED collects information on the recipient’s educational history, demographics, and postgraduate plans. The most recent available data is for 2017, although a 2018 data release is expected soon.
All graphs are done with Python’s seaborn graphics package. If you would like to replicate these graphs on your own, there is a link at the bottom to both the data and the code (hint: this is a good practice for people interested in data science).
I. Record Numbers of PhDs
Let’s get into it! We’ll start with an overview of doctorates granted over the last 60 years. The SED has been conducted annually since 1957. Since that time, there has been a steady increase in the number of earned PhDs since then. The numbers leveled out and dipped between 1972-1980. Since 1980, there hasbeen an increase in the number of PhDs granted since then.
II. Too Few Academic Professor Jobs
In contrast, there are on average 3,000 newly appointed faculty positions in Science and Engineering each year as demonstrated from data gathered between 1982 and 2011. This data was published in Nature Careers and Recruitment, in an article titled, “The Missing Piece to Changing University Culture,” by Maximiliaan Schillebeeckx et al. in 2013.
How many professor jobs are available to newly graduated PhDs?
There are not enough professor job openings for PhDs.
The surplus of PhDs amounts to an approximate ratio of 10 to 1 PhDs to open faculty positions in the field of science and engineering.
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III. Differences in Degrees and Gender
What are the ratios of male to female in PhDs?
Taking a look at doctorates granted by broad fields of study and gender in 2017, we can see that across all fields, there is a fairly even split between male and female doctorate recipients. Broken down by the fields of study, there are gender differences. PhDs in Humanities and arts remain evenly split, as do ones in other subject categories. Female recipients make up a larger proportion of doctorates in Education, Psychology, Social Sciences, and Life Sciences. However, female doctorates are in the minority in Physical and Earth Sciences, Math and Computer Science, and Engineering. While we have made strides in increasing female participation in postgraduate education, there still remains work to be done in increasing female participation in STEM fields.
IV. Finances/Debt of PhDs
How do PhDs support themselves financially during their degrees?
Switching over to funding resources, 78.9% PhDs support themselves via various stipends, including teaching assistantships (20.6%), research assistantships (33.3%), or fellowships/grants (25%). Approximately 3% receive financial support from their employers.
How many PhDs are in debt after graduation?
More about financials, here is a brief look at the education-related debt of doctorate recipients. A little over half (55.7%) have no debt, but there remains a substantial proportion with some amount of debt, including 10.1% with over $90,000 in educational debt.
V. Percentage of PhDs who Enter a Postdoc
How many PhDs are going into Postdocs after graduation?
While a postdoc is not the only opportunity one can take after receiving a PhD, it is one of the more common paths. Nearly 39% PhDs have a postdoctoral commitment, with approximately 59% of PhDs in life sciences and physical and earth sciences going into postdocs. On the other end, less than 8.5% of PhDs in education have postdoctoral commitments. It’s okay if you aren’t interested in doing a postdoc after you finish your PhD. If you want to know more about career exploration, check out our post here.
VI. Jobs PhDs going into after graduation
In this graph, you can see the number of PhDs who graduated in 2022 and the respective sector of the economy that their post-PhD job was in. You can see that PhDs found careers in many areas of the economy, ranging from life sciences to psychology, to engineering, education, and humanities. In this graph, the life sciences category includes agricultural sciences and natural resources, biological and biomedical sciences, and health sciences. And other includes other non-science and engineering fields.
From 1992 to 2022, the percentage of PhDs committed to academic jobs after graduation has decreased in every field except education
The number of PhDs with industry commitments post-graduation is increasing while the number of PhDs committed to careers in industry is decreasing. This is evident in the graphs depicted below.
By contrast, from 1992 to 2022, the percentage of PhDs committed to industry jobs after graduation has increased in every field
VII. Summary
In summary, the number of PhDs has increased. By contrast, the number of professor jobs made available has stayed the same, at around 3,000 professor jobs each year. Taken together, the competition for academic jobs has increased and fewer PhDs can find academic positions. As such, the last graph shows that more and more PhDs, regardless of major, are finding their way into careers outside of academics.
To read more about PhD careers and to create a plan for your PhD, read our book, “How to Make Your PhD Work: A Guide for Creating a Career in Science and Engineering.”
In addition, to understand if you are competitive for an academic career, read our diagnostics article, Self-Diagnosing Your PhD or Postdoc: Assess for Success.
Sources (links) we used in this article:
“The Missing Piece to Changing University Culture” by M. Schillebeeckx et al. (2013)
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