The Racial Differences in Employment Offers for Doctoral Recipients

The National Science Foundation recently released its annual data on research doctoral degree recipients in the United States. Data for the annual Survey of Earned Doctorates shows that African American were awarded 2,725 doctorates from universities in the United States in 2023. The data also shows the employment plans of students after they received their doctoral degrees.

In 2023, 71.1 percent of the 2,725 African Americans, who earned doctoral degrees had firm commitments of employment by the time they received their degree. This was just slightly lower than the percentage of White doctoral degree recipients who had firm job offers by the time they received their doctoral degree. Of the Black doctoral recipients who had obtained commitment, 75.3 percent had received employment offers and 24.7 percent had received postdoctoral research positions.

For 2023 doctoral recipients who had a job offer, 39 percent of African Americans had accepted positions in the academic arena. In 2003, 54 percent of African Americans who earned doctorates had secured an academic appointment by the time they were awarded their doctoral degree. For White doctoral recipients in 2023 who had job offers, an almost identical percentage were heading to academia. In 2003, more than 55 percent of Whites with job offers at the time they earned their doctorate were headed to academia.

Of African Americas who had firm employment commitments by the time they received their doctorate in 2023, 25.3 had jobs in the corporate world compared to 36.1 percent of Whites who had job commitments by the time they were awarded their doctorate. It appears that for both Blacks and Whites, doctoral graduates are becoming increasingly more likely to take high-paying jobs in the private sector rather that staying in the academic world.

Roughly 12 percent of Blacks and 9 percent of Whites who earned doctorates were heading to jobs in government or the public sector. More than 11 percent of the Blacks who had secured a position by the time they earned their doctorate in 2023 had secured a position in the nonprofit sector. About 7.6 percent of White doctoral recipients secured jobs in the nonprofit sector.

 

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Get the JBHE Weekly Bulletin

Receive our weekly email newsletter delivered to your inbox

Latest News

Graduate Enrollment Surges at Winston-Salem State University

In fall 2024, Winston-Salem State University enrolled 244 new graduate students, an increase of 31.2 percent from the prior year. The HBCU now enrolls nearly 600 graduate students.

Two Black Women College Presidents Announce Their Retirements

Gilda Barbino, president of Olin College of Engineering, and Soraya Coley, president of Cal Poly, Pomona, have announced their plans to retire at the end of this academic year. Both Dr. Barbino and Dr. Coley are the first woman presidents of their institutions.

Norfolk State University to Construct a $118 Million STEM Facility

As part of an ongoing $90 million fundraising campaign, Norfolk State University has announced plans to establish a 131,000-square-foot STEM building to advance its research capabilities and science academic programming.

Two Black Men Selected for Academic Appointments at Universities

The faculty members with new appointments are Christopher Small at Florida State University and Dwight McBride at Washington University in St. Louis.

Featured Jobs