Underemployment Among Postdoctorates
1994 Society Membership Survey

The 1994 Society Membership Survey was the fourteenth in a continuing series of studies conducted by the Education and Employment Statistics Division of the American Institute of Physics (AIP). The Division initiated the series to monitor employment trends, as reported by a sample of the members of AIP's Member Societies. Nearly 16,450 questionnaires were mailed out to a random sample of approximately one-fifth of the members. Nearly 11,100 (67%) responded.

In 1994 the survey included questions which measure the levels of certain employment characteristics. Levels lower than what are traditionally found for similar jobs might indicate underemployment. These included: working part-time because a full-time job was unavailable; working in a temporary position because a permanent position was unavailable; working outside one's degree field because a job within one's degree field was unavailable; working where reasonable advancement opportunities were unavailable; working in a position where a doctorate level education was unnecessary; and working in a position with little professional challenge. Since these conditions seem more prevalent at certain stages of a career, these data will be presented as a series of reports focusing on specific career stages.

For many PhD physicists initial employment means a postdoctoral appointment, defined as a temporary position in academe, industry or government intended to provide continued training or education in research. This first report looks at some of these postdoctorates who are society members identifying themselves as physicists, astronomers, or geophysicists (335 respondents). Highlights of the results include the following:

• A majority of society members who have earned their PhDs within the last calendar year hold postdoctoral appointments.
  
  
• Most postdoctorates are working in their field of degree; the vast majority find their work professionally challenging and feel that their positions require a doctorate-level education.
  
  
• Among society members who received their PhDs within the previous 2 years, postdoctorates are less likely to consider themselves underemployed than are recent PhDs in other positions.
  
  
• Over a third of society members in the first year of their postdoctoral appointments report that they had sought but could not find permanent positions. However, fewer than 5% of them consider themselves underemployed.
  
  
• The longer that society members extend their postdoctoral appointment, the more likely they are to be doing so involuntarily and to consider themselves underemployed.

Underemployment is a difficult concept to define and to measure. It can include structural features of a job that can be measured objectively such as temporary and part-time situations, and positions where reasonable advancement opportunities are absent. It can also include subjective judgments about the job such as the level of professional challenge and whether the position requires PhD-level expertise.

In the 1994 Survey, various features of underemployment were examined. One questionnaire item asked the respondents whether they consider their current positions as underemployment. No definitions of underemployment were provided, thus the reader of this report should be cautious in interpreting the levels of underemployment described in this report. However, the changes in self-characterization of underemployment tell us something important about the structural and substantive features of the positions that recent PhDs hold.

More PhD recipients take postdoctoral appointments than non-postdoctoral appointments as their initial employment. Table 1 shows the proportion of new physics PhDs who remained in the U.S. and took a postdoctoral appointment within the first year since receiving their degrees.

A postdoctoral appointment is a temporary position which provides continued training or education in research. Typically, a postdoctoral appointment is for one or two years. By year three, the postdoctorate is well-qualified for a permanent position, but Figure 1 shows a quarter of PhDs three years since their degrees extend their appointments. Ultimately, most postdoctorates are able to find permanent positions during the first five years after earning their PhDs.

Table 2 represents our estimate of the total pool of physicists in postdoctoral appointments. These estimates are based on our extrapolations from a variety of data sources. Nearly 2,900 PhD physicists were holding postdoctoral appointments in 1994. This represents an enormous pool of talent. Are these PhDs in postdoctoral positions because they view them as important and necessary stepping stones in their careers or are they marking time while they search for their first career-defining positions?

Many new PhDs accepted postdoctoral appointments because they could not find permanent positions. Figure 2 shows that over a third of first-year postdoctorates were in their positions involuntarily, that is, they sought but could not find permanent positions. Furthermore, the longer PhDs remain as postdoctorates, the likelihood that they are doing so because they cannot find a permanent position increases. Physicists who hold postdoctoral appointments five or more years after their degrees are twice as likely as those in their first year to report that they are doing so involuntarily. The self-characterization of underemployment is low among involuntary postdocs until after the third year, when underemployment sharply increases as appointments are involuntarily extended.

Whether society members voluntarily or involuntarily took postdoctoral appointments as their initial employment, Figure 3 shows that up until the third year, the proportion of these postdoctoral appointees who consider themselves underemployed is significantly less than the rest of their class who took other positions. However, the proportion of postdoctorates who consider themselves underemployed increases sharply again as appointments are prolonged past the third year. Meanwhile, the proportion of underemployment sentiments among non-postdoctorates drops significantly as former postdoctorates and other PhDs settle into suitable permanent positions. These changes after the third year indicate a threshold when postdoctorates start to consider an extended appointment as a sign of underemployment.

Are postdoctorates in their fourth and fifth years categorizing themselves as underemployed because of the substance of the work that they are doing or because of structural features of their status?

Although the temporary nature of a postdoctoral appointment may contribute to a feeling of underemployment, the quality of the training experience does not. Figure 4 shows that an overwhelming majority find their work professionally challenging. Moreover, less than one tenth of respondents believe that someone with less formal education could perform their jobs well. Furthermore, most respondents indicated that they extensively use their knowledge of their degree fields. Even though new postdoctorates would prefer permanent positions, postdoctoral appointments are regarded as acceptable and appropriate initial employment.

In conclusion, postdoctorates indicate that their temporary positions do provide appropriate training and education in research. Although a significant portion of PhDs accepted postdocs because they could not find permanent positions, most did not consider themselves underemployed unless they extended their appointments beyond three years.

Education and Employment Trends
Statistics Home Page
Publication Order Form