Vernon Briggs: Real-World Labor Economist

[Excerpt] Vernon Briggs stepped into a wastebasket and launched my career as a labor economist. In the spring of 1969, I was sleepwalking through the undergraduate economics program at the University of Texas and sitting in Dr. Briggs’s labor economics class. He was vigorously making a point when his misstep off the small classroom stage produced a roar of laughter but did not break his train of thought. He woke me up; I thought, “Man, I want to be as passionate about my life’s work as this guy

Survey of the Labor Market for New Ph.D. Hires in Economics 2007-2008

This year, the survey questionnaire was sent to 380 organizations. Questionnaires were returned by 186 (48.9 percent) for a response rate that was higher than the 2006-07 survey response rate of 41.6 percent. Of this year’s responses, 107 (57.5 percent) were from those who responded to last year’s survey; 79 (42.5 percent) came from new respondents. Among the academic institutions responding, the distribution of highest degrees offered was as follows: Ph.D.—42.4 percent; Master—19.4 percent; Bachelor—37.2 percent; Not Applicable or No Response—1.0 percent. The responses are reported for all respondents, and separately for Ph.D. degree granting institutions and for schools whose highest degree offered is the Bachelor or Master degree. Data for institutions in the National Research Council’s Research Doctorate Report, 1995, are reported as a subset of Ph.D. degree granting schools. They are referred to as the Top 30

Survey of the Labor Market for New Ph.D. Hires in Economics 2018-2019

This year, the survey questionnaire was sent to 373 organizations. Questionnaires were returned by 135 organizations (36.2 percent). Of this year’s responses, 80 (59.3 percent) were from those who responded to the last survey conducted for the 2017‐18 academic year. Among the academic institutions responding, the distribution of highest degrees offered was as follows: Ph.D.—56.3 percent; Master—9.6 percent and Bachelor—32.6 percent. The responses are reported for all respondents, and separately for Ph.D. degree granting institutions and for schools whose highest degree offered is the Bachelor or Master degree. Data for the top 30 institutions in the revised National Research Council’s Research Doctorate Report, 2011, are reported as a subset of Ph.D. degree granting schools. They are referred to as the Top 30

Survey of the Labor Market for New Ph.D. Hires in Economics 2011-2012

This year, the survey questionnaire was sent to 402 organizations. Questionnaires were returned by 191 (47.5 percent) for a response rate that was higher than the 2009-10 survey response rate of 37.8 percent. Of this year’s responses, 109 (57.1 percent) were from those who responded to last year’s survey; 82 (42.9 percent) came from new respondents. Among the academic institutions responding, the distribution of highest degrees offered was as follows: Ph.D.—47.9 percent; Master—12.8 percent and Bachelor—39.4 percent. The responses are reported for all respondents, and separately for Ph.D. degree granting institutions and for schools whose highest degree offered is the Bachelor or Master degree. Data for institutions in the National Research Council’s Research Doctorate Report, 2010, are reported as a subset of Ph.D. degree granting schools. They are referred to as the Top 30. Previous labor market reports used rankings from the 1995 Research Doctorate Report

Survey of the Labor Market for New Ph.D. Hires in Economics 2014-2015

This year, the survey questionnaire was sent to 378 organizations. Questionnaires were returned by 122 organizations (32.3 percent). Of this year’s responses, 80 (65.6 percent) were from those who responded to the last survey conducted for the 2011-12 academic year; 42 (34.4 percent) came from new respondents. Among the academic institutions responding, the distribution of highest degrees offered was as follows: Ph.D.—55.7 percent; Master—13.9 percent and Bachelor—28.7 percent. The responses are reported for all respondents, and separately for Ph.D. degree granting institutions and for schools whose highest degree offered is the Bachelor or Master degree. Data for institutions in the revised National Research Council’s Research Doctorate Report, 2011, are reported as a subset of Ph.D. degree granting schools. They are referred to as the Top 30. Previous labor market reports used rankings from the 2010 Research Doctorate Report. While the survey was not conducted for the 2012-13 and 2013-14 academic years, the current survey captures some of the information that was not collected during those years

Survey of the Labor Market for New Ph.D. Hires in Economics 2016-2017

This year, the survey questionnaire was sent to 393 organizations. Questionnaires were returned by 152 organizations (38.7 percent). Of this year’s responses, 89 (58.6 percent) were from those who responded to the last survey conducted for the 2015-16 academic year; 63 (41.4 percent) came from new respondents. Among the academic institutions responding, the distribution of highest degrees offered was as follows: Ph.D.—46.7 percent; Master—11.2 percent and Bachelor—41.4 percent. The responses are reported for all respondents, and separately for Ph.D. degree granting institutions and for schools whose highest degree offered is the Bachelor or Master degree. Data for institutions in the revised National Research Council’s Research Doctorate Report, 2011, are reported as a subset of Ph.D. degree granting schools. They are referred to as the Top 30. Additionally, this year, the survey collected data for hiring of new non-tenure track Ph.Ds. as well as the customary data collected for new tenure-track Ph.D

Survey of the Labor Market for New Ph.D. Hires in Economics 2015-2016

This year, the survey questionnaire was sent to 395 organizations. Questionnaires were returned by 132 organizations (33.4 percent). Of this year’s responses, 68 (51.5 percent) were from those who responded to the last survey conducted for the 2014-15 academic year; 64 (48.5 percent) came from new respondents. Among the academic institutions responding, the distribution of highest degrees offered was as follows: Ph.D.—47.7 percent; Master—15.9 percent and Bachelor—34.8 percent. The responses are reported for all respondents, and separately for Ph.D. degree granting institutions and for schools whose highest degree offered is the Bachelor or Master degree. Data for institutions in the revised National Research Council’s Research Doctorate Report, 2011, are reported as a subset of Ph.D. degree granting schools. They are referred to as the Top 30. Previous labor market reports used rankings from the 2010 Research Doctorate Report

Survey of the Labor Market for New Ph.D. Hires in Economics 2009-2010

This year, the survey questionnaire was sent to 394 organizations. Questionnaires were returned by 172 (43.7 percent) for a response rate that was lower than the 2008-09 survey response rate of 46.4 percent. Of this year’s responses, 107 (62.2 percent) were from those who responded to last year’s survey; 65 (37.8 percent) came from new respondents. Among the academic institutions responding, the distribution of highest degrees offered was as follows: Ph.D.—43.6 percent; Master—19.2 percent; Bachelor—36 percent; Not Applicable or No Response—1.2 percent. The responses are reported for all respondents, and separately for Ph.D. degree granting institutions and for schools whose highest degree offered is the Bachelor or Master degree. Data for institutions in the National Research Council’s Research Doctorate Report, 1995, are reported as a subset of Ph.D. degree granting schools. They are referred to as the Top 30

Survey of the Labor Market for New Ph.D. Hires in Economics 2008-2009

This year, the survey questionnaire was sent to 385 organizations. Questionnaires were returned by 178 (46.4 percent) for a response rate that was lower than the 2007-08 survey response rate of 48.9 percent. Of this year’s responses, 115 (64.7 percent) were from those who responded to last year’s survey; 63 (35.3 percent) came from new respondents. Among the academic institutions responding, the distribution of highest degrees offered was as follows: Ph.D.—39.1 percent; Master—18.4 percent; Bachelor—41.9 percent; Not Applicable or No Response—0.6 percent. The responses are reported for all respondents, and separately for Ph.D. degree granting institutions and for schools whose highest degree offered is the Bachelor or Master degree. Data for institutions in the National Research Council’s Research Doctorate Report, 1995, are reported as a subset of Ph.D. degree granting schools. They are referred to as the Top 30

Survey of the Labor Market for New Ph.D. Hires in Economics 2004-2005

This year, the survey questionnaire was sent to 371 organizations. Questionnaires were returned by 182 (49.1 percent) for a response rate that was higher than the 2003-04-survey response rate of 48.4 percent. Of this year’s responses, 120 (65.9 percent) were from among those who responded to last year’s survey; 62 (34.1 percent) came from new respondents. Among the academic institutions responding, the distribution of highest degrees offered was as follows: Ph.D.—44.5 percent; Master—13.2 percent; Bachelor—33.0 percent. The remaining 9.3 percent did not indicate their highest degree offered. Two of the respondents were non-academic organizations. The responses are reported for all respondents (including the non-academic institutions and schools that did not report “highest degree offered”), and separately for Ph.D. degree-granting institutions and for schools whose highest degree offered is the Bachelor or Master degree. Data for institutions in the National Research Council’s Research Doctorate Report, 1995, are reported as a subset of Ph.D. degree-granting schools. They are referred to as the Top 30