Employment and Trends in Psychology

Abstract

In 2003 Barker and Kohout assembled a chapter for the previous version of Portable Mentorthat considered the following questions. How are new psychology doctorates faring when seeking their first professional position? What are the criteria by which applicants are judged? Is there any point to trying to get a job in academe? Are practice jobs easier to come by? What about consulting? The authors relied upon a variety of data sources to answer these questions. This update will rely on similar sources, with a focus on secondary data. Among these are a number of surveys published by the American Psychological Association (APA): the biennial APA Doctorate Employment Survey(DES), Salaries in Psychology, Faculty Salaries in Graduate Departments of Psychology, and the 2008 APA Survey of Psychology Health Service Providers(Michalski, Mulvey, & Kohout, 2010). Other sources include the National Science Foundation (NSF), the US Department of Education, and the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The goal of this chapter is to sketch a picture of the employment situation for psychology doctorates in the USA. To do this, we address demographics, employment status, employment settings and positions, salaries, perceptions of the marketplace, time to employment, and any changes in these over time among new doctorates, as data permit. This is followed by information on challenges, opportunities, and trends in the field.