Economy’s Toll on Job Market Is Evident at Historians’ Meeting

A five-year stretch of steady growth in the job market for academic historians is over, the American Historical Association announced at its annual meeting here last weekend.

The number of job advertisements colleges have posted with the association so far this academic year is down 15 percent from last year—the first decline since a slump that occurred in 2001-2 and 2002-3.

Robert B. Townsend, assistant director of research and publications at the association, released the findings of a job-market study at a panel discussion. He said that as of December 1, colleges had advertised 746 job openings for the coming academic year, compared with 878 by that time last year.

The decline in job ads follows last year’s record-breaking number of job openings advertised with the historical association throughout the entire year—1,057 for 2007-8.

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