The American Historical Association estimates that colleges in the United States awarded about 940 history doctorates in 2006-7, slightly fewer than in the previous year. But those newly minted Ph.D.’s are expected to be outnumbered — for the third year in a row — by the job openings in their discipline, according to a new report by Robert B. Townsend, the association’s assistant director for research and publications.

The report was released in advance of the association’s annual meeting, which of course includes many job interviews. The meeting runs tomorrow through Sunday in Washington.

The association’s magazine, Perspectives, lists about 1,030 new history jobs, a tally that the group uses to measure the health of the history job market. However, more jobs don’t always translate into more opportunities for all.

The data show that, in some specialties, there are too many would-be professors to go around. And in others, there aren’t enough. In American history, for instance, job listings were one-third less than the number of new doctorates awarded in the year before. And in Asian and African history, the number of job openings outstripped the supply of new professors, the report says.

However, Mr. Townsend wrote, specialists in fields “with a severe imbalance” could be good fits for open positions or they could find work outside of academe. —Audrey Williams June