The Changing Employment Distribution of Life Science Doctorates

The decades immediately following World War II saw the rapid expansion of university-based research and a rising number of college students that, in turn, fueled an increase in university faculty positions and new PhD production. During the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, the number of new PhDs continued to rise, but growth in academic positions slowed. The percentage of life science PhDs employed by colleges and universities decreased, and life science employment in private industry and nonprofit organizations grew faster than in academia. As the number of new academic jobs declined, so did the percentage of faculty members with tenure or professorial rank. Among all employed life scientists, the fraction reporting basic research as a primary or secondary work activity also dropped, while the percentage with management and other work activities increased.