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I last looked at the H-Net job numbers [about a month ago.](/post/2020-10-01-jobs-update/2020-10-01-jobs-update/) Since then, the news isn't exactly good, but it's also probably as good as anyone could expect. For most of September and October, history jobs were at about 25% of their average for the 2010s; this was slightly worse than we're seeing in the approximate numbers in--for…
I last looked at the H-Net job numbers [about a month
ago.](/post/2020-10-01-jobs-update/2020-10-01-jobs-update/)
Since then, the news isn't exactly good, but it's also probably as good
as anyone could expect. For most of September and October, history jobs
were at about 25% of their average for the 2010s; this was slightly
worse than we're seeing in the approximate numbers in--for
instance--science jobs, where new job openings are at about [30% of
their normal
levels](https://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2020/10/amid-pandemic-us-faculty-job-openings-plummet)
(Thanks to Dylan Ruediger at the AHA for passing along that link.)
The shifts in the last month have pushed the totals numbers over 100
jobs in history; this is a bit of an advance, so we're now down only
about 70% from the normal rates, not 75%. I don't know if the sciences
have seen a similar rebound.
:::
{.caption}
:::
Cumulative jobs by era
:::
:::
We're far enough into the year that it's worth looking at subfield
numbers to see how different fields are faring. The loss of jobs is much
more uneven than I thought.
At one extreme, jobs in world history and Middle Eastern history are
down about 95%; at the other end, there have been 32 jobs listed with a
primary category of Black studies or African American studies, an
_increase_ of 28% over the normal rate. The only other subfield not to
have seen a catastrophic collapse is history of science, down "just"
40%. This is clearly the Black Lives Matter moment playing itself out in
the hiring patterns, and it produces some remarkable inversions; there
are twice as many jobs listed for African-American history specifically
as for American history generally.
The collapses in European and Middle East hiring are especially
remarkable given that both fared quite badly after 2008, as well. A
typical associate professor in mideast studies might have received her
first job in 2008, when there were about 60 new jobs in mideast studies;
this year, there is one.
:::
{.caption}
:::
Job losses have been unevenly distributed.
:::
:::
```
Region | Average Jobs listed by November 12 | as share of 2010s average | as share of 2000s average | | era | | 2004-2008 | 2009 | 2010-2019 | 2020 | | |
| Middle East | 61.20 | 29.0 | 21.9 | 1.0 | 5% | 2% |
| World | 37.80 | 13.0 | 14.5 | 1.0 | 7% | 3% |
| Europe | 88.40 | 36.0 | 46.1 | 5.0 | 11% | 6% |
| US/Canada | 162.80 | 79.0 | 68.2 | 14.0 | 21% | 9% |
| Ancient | 28.20 | 16.0 | 17.0 | 3.0 | 18% | 11% |
| Americas | 52.40 | 26.0 | 30.0 | 7.0 | 23% | 13% |
| Asia | 80.60 | 43.0 | 54.7 | 14.0 | 26% | 17% |
| Methodological | 25.20 | 12.0 | 30.4 | 8.0 | 26% | 32% |
| Africa | 13.00 | 4.0 | 20.8 | 5.0 | 24% | 38% |
| Hist. Sci. | 12.40 | 7.0 | 8.4 | 5.0 | 60% | 40% |
| Interdisciplinary | 15.20 | 9.0 | 25.4 | 10.0 | 39% | 66% |
| Black/Af-Am | 33.75 | 20.0 | 25.0 | 32.0 | 128% | 95% |
```Read on benschmidt.org ↗
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