Received: from weber.ucsd.edu (weber.ucsd.edu [132.239.147.2]) by csf.Colorado.EDU (8.7.6/8.7.3/CNS-4.0p) with ESMTP id LAA22334 for <socgrad@csf.colorado.edu>; Fri, 25 Apr 1997 11:59:34 -0600 (MDT)
Received: (from lmiller@localhost) by weber.ucsd.edu (8.8.3/8.8.3) id KAA27153 for socgrad@csf.colorado.edu; Fri, 25 Apr 1997 10:59:33 -0700 (PDT)
Date: Fri, 25 Apr 1997 10:59:33 -0700 (PDT)
From: Laura Miller <lmiller@weber.ucsd.edu>
Message-Id: <199704251759.KAA27153@weber.ucsd.edu>
To: socgrad@csf.colorado.edu
Subject: Unemployed PhDs
My limited understanding of the job market in the natural & physical sciences
is that it varies greatly by discipline.  I know that in the past few years,
Math PhDs have had as tough a time as people in Literature finding jobs,
partly because following the transition in Eastern Europe, the U.S. was
flooded with mathematicians (and other scientists) from those countries.
Amy's right that the economics of work is generally quite different for
those of us in the social sciences & humanities.  Especially for those of
us who do not do quantitative work, post-docs are not the usual career path,
and outside grants and consultancies do not make up a large portion of
our (or our universities') incomes.  Still, I think that strategically it
makes a lot of sense to make common cause with campaigns like Hale's,
since the public is likely to be more concerned about the demise of
astronomy than sociology.  And whatever Hale's personal & professional
deficiencies, I'm very glad he's making this campaign.  Perhaps it's
important to remind him (and the media), that scientists are not the only
PhDs in trouble now.

Laura Miller