Non-tenure-track faculty and GSEs make up nearly three-quarters of the academic workforce: Shares of the academic workforce, by faculty status, Fall 2005 and Fall 2015

Position Fall 2005 share Fall 2015 share
Tenured/tenure-track faculty 29.5% 26.8%
Tenured faculty 20.6% 19.1%
Tenure-track faculty 8.9% 7.6%
Non-tenure-track faculty 49.6% 52.1%
Graduate student employees (GSEs) 20.9% 21.1%

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.