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Every other year, data released by the Education Department's National Center for Education Statistics provide a snapshot of the growth of part-time positions in the professoriate. This year -- an off-year for that data -- the federal statistics provide evidence for another shift, in which the majority of full-time professional employees in higher education are in administrative rather than faculty jobs.
In the fall of 2004, 50.6 of professional full-time employees in higher education (excluding medical schools) were faculty members. In the fall of 2006, for which data were released Tuesday, 48.6 percent of professional, full-time jobs in higher education were held by faculty members.
Faculty jobs remain the majority among full-time positions at two-year colleges and in public higher education, but because there are far more full-time jobs at four-year institutions than at two-year institutions, the balance has tilted away from professorial positions. (Adding part-time positions would of course also swell the faculty ranks across sectors, but this data set focuses on full-time positions.)
Full-Time Professional Positions in Higher Education, Fall 2004 and Fall 2006
| Category | 2004 Faculty | 2004 Administrators | 2006 Faculty | 2006 Administrators |
| Total | 50.6% | 49.4% | 48.6% | 51.4% |
| Public | 53.1% | 46.9% | 51.1% | 48.9% |
| Private nonprofit | 45.6% | 54.4% | 44.0% | 56.0% |
| Private for-profit | 48.0% | 52.0% | 44.1% | 55.9% |
| 4-year colleges | 47.3% | 52.7% | 45.5% | 54.5% |
| 2-year colleges | 63.6% | 36.4% | 61.4% | 38.6% |
