News
Disappearing Jobs
For a few months now, reports on this year's job hunts in English and foreign languages have been depressing, as departments and candidates have seen searches called off.
Today the Modern Language Association is releasing information on just how bad the situation is: The number of job postings in the MLA's Job Information List will be down 21 percent in 2008-9, the steepest annual decline in its 34-year history. For English language and literature, the drop will be 22.2 percent and for foreign languages, 19.6 percent. Not all jobs are listed with the MLA, so the figures don't cover every position, but the MLA's postings have tracked consistently with national trends, especially for the assistant professor positions that are so desirable to new Ph.D.'s who want to land on the tenure track.
In another notable change this year, however, the percentage of the MLA's job listings that are for assistant professor positions on the tenure track dropped to 56 percent from 60 percent. The percentage of foreign language jobs on the tenure track remained stable at 55.5 percent. Within the foreign language jobs, the greatest number of positions is in Spanish, but a trend of recent years -- in which Spanish is less dominant than it was previously -- is continuing.
But whether in English or foreign languages, the news isn't good for job seekers. Rosemary G. Feal, executive director of the MLA, said many people on the job market would find "precious few attainable positions." She said that she worried that more of the hiring that does take place will be off the tenure track. In the last two months, many colleges and universities have imposed hiring freezes and some have said that many adjuncts won't be offered positions for next semester or the fall.
If patterns of past recessions hold, however, those institutions with enrollment increases -- especially community colleges and urban publics that attract many more students in bad economic times -- will at the last minute hire instructors for non-tenure track positions. This would of course exacerbate the situation the MLA recently warned about in a report: the gradual replacement of tenure track positions in English with adjunct slots.
The number of new Ph.D.'s in English and foreign languages has dropped modestly in recent years -- but in nothing like the percentages that jobs appear to have vanished for the coming academic year, so the reduction in the number of jobs won't be offset by a decline in the supply of new academic talent. Adding to the concern is that while the job market has been better in recent years, there are still many people with humanities doctorates working off the tenure track or without full-time positions -- people still looking for their first real job security and benefits. And the conditions in English and foreign languages aren't unique to those fields -- many humanities disciplines are expecting much tighter job markets this year.
For English jobs, the 1,420 positions the MLA lists this year is a drop from 1,821 last year. While the English totals hovered between 1,000 and 1,200 for several years during the mid-1990s, they have not been as low as this year's figure since 1997-8. For foreign languages, this year's MLA total is 1,350, the smallest number of jobs since 2003-4.
It is also important to note that some of the positions that have been listed with the MLA may not be filled. Some departments that were authorized in the fall to conduct searches -- and that advertised them -- have called them off. In other cases, searches are continuing, but with the expectations that deans or presidents will decide later how many departments will actually be able to make offers.
There was one bit of positive news in the study in terms of the goals of the MLA. While the association has applauded the increased interest of many students and colleges in Spanish, MLA leaders have worried that some departments lacked the resources to teach other languages. In 2000, just over half of the foreign language jobs were in Spanish, crowding out other European languages and also some of the non-European languages that many experts want to see more Americans study. This year, Spanish is down to just over one third of the positions.
Job Postings in Foreign Languages, October 2008
| Spanish | 33.4% |
| French | 12.9% |
| German | 7.8% |
| Italian | 5.6% |
| Arabic | 4.5% |
| Chinese | 4.5% |
Data released by the MLA show notable increases in this decade for Arabic and Chinese. In 2000, the former represented only 0.5 percent of positions and the latter 1.4 percent of positions. The association also noted a large increase since 2000 -- to 20.9 percent from 13.5 percent -- in interdisciplinary positions for which the language is open.
Within English positions, British literature held on to its title as the most popular specialty, although it was down to 19.5 percent of positions from last year's 22 percent.
Job Postings in English, October 2008
| British literature | 19.5% |
| Rhetoric and composition | 16.7% |
| Multi-ethnic literature | 14.2% |
| Creative writing | 11.2% |
| American literature | 7.3% |
