Strong Employment Growth Continues for Higher Education in Q3 2016
The number of jobs in higher education increased 1.9 percent in Q3 2016, the largest third quarter increase in four years, according to a recent report from HigherEdJobs, the leading job and career site for higher education professionals.
According to an analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data by HigherEdJobs, the 1.9 percent gain in higher education employment during the third quarter represents an increase of approximately 31,000 college and university jobs. In fact, higher education increased jobs at a faster rate of growth than the U.S. economy, resulting in an incremental increase in the market share of higher education jobs compared to all U.S. jobs. This is also the first time this metric moved up during the third quarter in four years.
However, the total number of advertisements for job postings in academia, which had been recently increasing but at a decelerating rate of growth, declined 1.5 percent in Q3 2016. This was the first decrease in higher education job postings since at least Q1 2013, regardless of quarter. The decline in higher education job postings was distributed throughout most categories of job postings, although some types of administrative and executive postings experienced incremental growth. In addition, a separate analysis of regional postings trends confirms the overall decline in job postings for higher education jobs was broad-based and not just concentrated or driven by any single section or area of the country.
The report analyzes the most current data from BLS and HigherEdJobs’ posting trends from roughly 850 colleges and universities that have continuously subscribed to the company’s unlimited posting plan for four years and, therefore, are able to post all of their job openings at no additional cost. The full report can be viewed at: http://www.higheredjobs.com/career/quarterly-report.cfm.
HigherEdJobs® is the leading source for jobs and career information in academia. During 2015, over 5,400 colleges and universities posted more than 186,000 faculty, administrative, and executive job postings to the company’s website, which receives more than 1.3 million unique visitors a month. HigherEdJobs is published by Internet Employment Linkage, Inc. and is headquartered in State College, Pa.
