This is not a good year for mathematicians looking for a job. Applicants attending the recent winter meeting of the A.M.S. found that research positions available at major universities were scarce and the competition for them was ferocious. Teaching positions at lesser known colleges were in heavy demand, and institutions begging for applicants five years ago could pick and choose. Moreover, this year's graduates found themselves competing with those of previous years who had accepted temporary or undesirable offers and were now trying to improve their standing.``Note on the Job Market'', Notices of the American Mathematical Society
Those who attended this winter's AMS meeting can readily attest to accuracy of the above description. Only the next line, ``Widespread rumors asserted that some departments counted over a hundred applicants for each available position,'' gives away that the year is not 1995, a year in which many departments count over a thousand applicants per position, but 1971. The author goes on to assert that ``If we do nothing, then we can expect that by 1975 well over half of our Ph.D.'s will probably have to accept positions in some other field.'' He suggests that mathematics departments must either restrict enrollments, move towards interdisciplinary training, or face the grim prospect of having mathematicians unemployable in their own field. This prophet of doom is none other than our own Reese Prosser [Prosser, 1971].
In 1995 we face a job market which is as bad as or worse than that of the early 1970's. A number of forces have combined to produce the current crisis, and it is essential that we understand and prepare for the changing environment in which our graduates will be working.
We are faced with political as well as economic change. There is currently a movement in Congress to restructure Federal spending on basic research. The deficit has created pressures for accountability for government spending, and many in Congress want more immediate, visible public benefit from Federal research dollars. Congressional science committee chairs have called for allocating an increased share of research budgets to applied, strategic initiatives. These economic and political changes are documented and discussed at length in the next section.
What can we do to prepare ourselves for these changes? There have been renewed calls for restricting graduate enrollments, as well as calls for a renewed emphasis on education and a broadening of the curriculum. Some options for us to consider are given here and here. These options, as well as more long term strategies, are discussed in greater detail here.