The Relative Earnings of Contingent Faculty in Higher Education

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Part-time and full-time non-tenure-track faculty currently represent almost half of all faculty in U.S. higher education, yet little is known about their earnings relative to traditional tenure-track faculty. I find that full-time non-tenure-track faculty earn approximately 26% less per hour from their academic institution and 18% less in total earnings from all sources per hour than comparable tenure-track assistant professors. Part-time non-tenure-track faculty earn 64% less per hour from their institution, but only 1% less in total earnings per hour, than tenure-track assistant professors.