Mathematicians and the Market

Introduction Young mathematicians have been facing dismal job prospects throughout the nineties. The fall unemployment rate for new Ph.D.s in the U.S., as measured by the AMS-IMS-MAA Annual Survey (Second Report), rose from 2.5% in 1990 to a peak of 13.2% in 1994.1 Unemployment rates have fallen moderately since to the current level of 9.5% in 1996. This is not the first time that labor market problems have plagued mathematics. The early seventies saw a similar situation. The Ph.D. glut of the seventies had far-reaching consequences. It led to drastic cutbacks in funding for graduate education from which it took nearly fifteen years to recover. The effects of the present labor market woes are already visible and dramatic, and they will certainly be damaging to mathematics in the long term. As I document below, the high unemployment rates facing recent Ph.D.s are only the tip of the iceberg. A variety of external factors have contributed to the present situation. Changes in funding levels, recent immigration legislation, and the finances of higher education have all played a role in the present problems faced by Ph.D.s. It is all too easy to blame outside forces beyond our control for our troubles, however. The truth is that we in the mathematics community share the responsibility for the current employment crisis. Our community has dramatically expanded production of Ph.D.s without questioning whether there was sufficient demand for our product. Even after five years of serious and sustained employment problems, we have done little to adapt to the changes in the market for mathematicians. Our community has failed to provide answers to the problems facing recent graduates. What is more, after five years we have barely begun to ask the right questions in a systematic way. What are the effects of the current labor market problems on the mathematics community as a whole? What forces have contributed to these problems? What are effective remedies? I address each of these questions below, providing partial answers when data exist and pointing out the key gaps in our current understanding. I conclude by describing some specific steps that the mathematical societies can take to improve the current labor market situation for mathematics Ph.D.s.