Academic Mathematicians' Pay Rises Slightly

The median starting salaries for new holders of doctorates in mathematics who are launching careers in academia rose only slightly last year, according to a recent survey conducted by the American Mathematical Society (AMS) and released late last fall. The relatively small salary increases over the 1990 levels were primarily a result of budget pressures at many universities, according to the survey authors. More New Grads Also holding the rise to modest levels--3 percent for men and just 2.2 percent for women--was the increasing number of new graduates who haven't found employment during the current recession, the survey found. The median nine-month salary for men was $33,000 in 1991, vs. $32,000 a year earlier. For women, the median salary was $33,200 in 1991, compared with $32,500 in 1990. AMS officials speculate that the median salary was higher for female mathematicians than for their male counterparts because of an apparent attempt on the part of employers to raise salaries for women in the field overall, although a precise explanation wasn't offered in the study. The survey also found that women accounted for 24 percent of the 461 United States citizens reported to have received doctorates in mathematics in 1991, equaling the all-time high for women reached in 1989. Yet the number of minorities receiving doctorates in math continues to be low: Of these 461 graduates, only six Hispanics and 10 blacks received doctorates. The results reflect responses from 242 individuals who answered questionnaires AMS distributed last spring, using addresses provided by academic departments. Most of the survey's conclusions regarding pay in academia were based on nine-month salaries, because most universities calculate pay on that cycle. The median faculty salary for experienced math Ph.D.'s--full, associate, and assistant professors--rose less than 5 percent, also reflecting fiscal pressures at universities, according to departments responding to the survey. A Buyer's Market "There's currently an imbalance between the number of positions available and the number of people on the market," says Donald McClure, a professor of applied mathematics at Brown University and chairman of the AMS committee that gathered the data. "In fact, there were actual reductions in the number of available positions," he says, noting that roughly 80 percent of most new doctorates in the field enter academia. "It's a buyer's market." Indeed, the survey found that 12 percent of last year's new math Ph.D.'s remained unemployed by late September of 1991--twice the rate of unemployment at the same time a year earlier. Meanwhile, U.S. institutions awarded 1,074 doctorates between July 1990 and June 1991, a 15 percent increase over the number of math Ph.D.'s awarded in the previous 12-month period. The number of new Ph.D.'s is also 27 percent higher than the record lows that were recorded between 1986 and 1988. Budget Crunches Compounding the salary woes of mathematicians, stringent university budgets--especially at state institutions--resulted in few, if any, raises for existing faculty. Consequently, many more math Ph.D.'s are accepting short-term positions of one to two years in duration, McClure says, forcing some people into holding patterns. Ultimately, these Ph.D.'s return to the job market, making competition for jobs more intense. "The outlook for the near term? It's going to be very tough," says McClure. "Position approvals are being delayed." Influx From Abroad Another factor said to be at work is the rising number of newly graduated Ph.D.'s from abroad seeking work in the U.S.--mostly Asians who come to the States to study and then remain in the hope of finding employment. "With the political turmoil in China, it seems there's a larger portion [of Ph.D.'s from there] who don't want to return," says James Maxwell, associate executive director at the Providence, R.I.-based mathematical society. A large percentage of students from India and Hong Kong also choose to stay in the U.S., he says. The survey noted that, in general, the number of mathematicians from abroad who are studying in the U.S. is increasing. The number of foreign citizens receiving math doctorates last year was 600, a new high that's also a 14 percent increase over the comparable figure from the 1989-90 academic year. In fact, that's more than twice the number of international students who earned math doctorates in the U.S. 10 years ago. The number of new foreign-born, U.S.-graduated Ph.D.'s has risen every year since 1978-1979. At the same time, the number of U.S. citizens earning math doctorates was 461. This figure is up from the low of 362 in 1986-87, but substantially below the 567 new Ph.D.'s who graduated 10 years ago. Overall, U.S. citizens accounted for 43 percent of the new math doctorates, down from 68 percent in the 1980-81 academic year. Same Problems In Industry The survey found that the prognosis for employment in industry may not be much different from that for academia, especially as the recession prompts many companies in the aerospace and computer industries to cut their work forces or, like universities, postpone creating new jobs. "Two years ago, when the economy was still okay, I was hiring," says Charlotte Lin, a deputy chief engineer at the Boeing High Tech Center in Seattle. "Now, it's a completely different universe. And a newly minted Ph.D. has the toughest time." The median salary for new math Ph.D.'s in industry rose just 3 percent over the 1990 figure, to $51,000. The salaries for men propelled the rise, at a median of $52,000, a 6 percent gain. During the same period, pay given female math Ph.D.'s in industry dropped .04 percent. However, the sample size was just 53 individuals, indicating that different results may be obtainable from a larger group. The survey found that, while the number of new doctorates entering industry or government increased significantly--to 140, up 30 percent from a year earlier--these sectors didn't offer enough opportunity to compensate for reduced academic hiring. Edward R. Silverman is a freelance writer based in Hoboken, N.J.

Academic Mathematicians' Pay Rises Slightly

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