marmar (1000+ posts) Fri Dec-18-09 12:35 PM
Original message
NY Times: At Colleges, Humanities Job Outlook Gets Bleaker
At Colleges, Humanities Job Outlook Gets Bleaker
By TAMAR LEWIN
Published: December 17, 2009
With colleges and universities cutting back because of the recession, the job outlook for graduate students in language and literature is bleaker than ever before.
Economy Doesn’t Slow Demand for Early Entry to College (December 18, 2009) According to the Modern Language Association’s forecast of job listings, released Thursday, faculty positions will decline 37 percent, the biggest drop since the group began tracking its job listings 35 years ago.
The projection, based on a comparison between the number of jobs listed in October 2008 and October 2009, follows a 26 percent drop the previous year.
“Students thinking of going to graduate school in English should understand that right now their chance of landing a job that provides them a livable wage is 50-60 percent,†said Rosemary Feal, executive director of the M.L.A., the world’s largest association of scholars and professors of language and literature. “What I often hear from grad students is, ‘I had no clue it was this bad.’ They need to go into it with their eyes wide open.â€
While the association does not having listings for every academic position available, its list does track the overall faculty job market. ..............(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/18/education/18professor...
Nicholas D Wolfwood (1000+ posts) Fri Dec-18-09 12:53 PM
Sure, you can do and learn whatever you want. Just don't expect someone to pay for it.
msedano (578 posts) Fri Dec-18-09 12:49 PM
2. looking for work in all the wrong places
a humanities degree, an advanced one more so, prepares people for effective productivity in the information economy, work related to sales and distribution: thinking, writing, speaking, listening.
with the US economy no longer a primary producer of goods, our forte has become service and moving information, "the knowledge industry". material purchased overseas for import into our markets requires folks skilled at purchasing and inventory control, shipping, warehousing, writing marketing copy like catalogs and webpages, training, and, ultimately, finding customers, either regional distributors, jobbers, or end-users. sales. sadly, being "in sales" leaves a bad taste in some mouths. get over it.
The USA’s share of the manufacturing output, of the countries that manufactured over $185 billion in 2008, 28% in 1990, 28% in 1995, 32% in 2000, 28% in 2005, 28% in 2006, 26% in 2007 and 24% in 2008. China’s share has grown from 4% in 1990, 6% in 1995, 10% in 2000, 13% in 2005, 14% in 2006, 16% in 2007 to 18% in 2008. Japan’s share has fallen from 22% in 1990 to 14% in 2008 (after increasing to 26% in 1995 then steadily falling). The USA has about 4.5% of the world population, China about 20%.
Based on the latest UN Data, for global manufacturing, in billions of current US dollars:
Country 1990 1995 2000 2005 2006 2007 2008
USA 1,041 1,289 1,543 1,624 1,712 1,756 1,831
China 145 300 484 734 891 1,106 1,399
Japan 810 1,219 1,034 979 927 923 1,045
Germany 438 517 392 571 608 711 767
Italy 240 226 206 295 302 345 381
http://investing.curiouscatblog.net/2009/10/13/data-on-the-largest-manufacturing-countries-in-2008/
With colleges and universities cutting back because of the recession, the job outlook for graduate students in language and literature is bleaker than ever before.
Economy Doesn’t Slow Demand for Early Entry to College (December 18, 2009) According to the Modern Language Association’s forecast of job listings, released Thursday, faculty positions will decline 37 percent, the biggest drop since the group began tracking its job listings 35 years ago.
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ORDER UP!
I have no sympathy for those who are using their lib. arts degree as an excuse for not having a job. I majored in History, and had a job within 2 months of graduation, and I still have it almost 3 years later. My best friend majored in Film Studies, and got a job, in her field, within a month or two of graduating. Another friend majored in math, which might as well be a lib. arts major unless you have a graduate degree, and once she realized she was having trouble finding a job, she joined Teach for America and got a job that way. When DUmmies claim that they've been unemployed for X number of years because of their major, I roll my eyes.
I have a friend who uses her Theater major as an excuse for why she doesn't have a job, but her problem is that she wants her dream job, now. She wants to me a magazine editor, so she applies for the top positions rather than for the lowly copy editor, file clerk positions to get in the door. She doesn't want to "settle." Meanwhile, her resume is getting a larger and larger unemployed section.
and i love any dummy that will take any loan to complete a masters or doctorate in wymyn's studies, racking up $100's of thousands of loans, and then look for any out to bail on that obligation they entered into willingly. it all *should* be free, right?
and i love any dummy that will take any loan to complete a masters or doctorate in wymyn's studies, racking up $100's of thousands of loans, and then look for any out to bail on that obligation they entered into willingly. it all *should* be free, right?
The only thing you can do with that is start a left-wing "non-profit" and get government grants.
Yeah but then you'd have to do that yicky work stuff....ewww *shudder* /dummie