Growth of non-tenure-track/GSE positions has outpaced growth of tenure positions: Number of academic employees, by faculty status, Fall 2005 and Fall 2015

Position Fall 2005 Fall 2015 Percent change
Tenured/tenure-track faculty 448,509 470,126 4.8%
Tenured faculty 312,600 335,973 7.5%
Tenure-track faculty 135,909 134,153 -1.3%
Non-tenure-track faculty 753,531 915,476 21.5%
Graduate student employees (GSEs) 317,525 370,710 16.7%

Note: As a point of reference, total nonfarm employment growth between October 2005 and October 2015 was 5.9 percent (BLS 2017a).

Source: Authors’ analysis of National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) data, retrieved December 22, 2017, using the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS)

View the underlying data on epi.org.