SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Early Career Doctorates Survey pilot study, 2015.
by Kelly Phou[1]
In the U.S. workforce, early career doctorates—persons receiving their first doctorate within the past 10 years—are a diverse group that includes both U.S. and non-U.S. citizens trained either in the United States or abroad. The Early Career Doctorates Survey (ECDS), sponsored by the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) within the National Science Foundation and by the National Institutes of Health, gathers in-depth information about such individuals who are employed at U.S. master's- and doctorate-granting academic institutions, federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs), or the National Institutes of Health Intramural Research Program (NIH IRP). The statistics in this report are from the 2015 ECDS pilot study (see the Data Sources and Limitations section for more information about the pilot).
Most of this estimated 228,700 early career doctorates population were employed in academic institutions (96%), and the majority earned their first doctoral degree in the sciences (70%). Approximately 19% earned their first doctoral degree from a foreign academic institution. When asked where they planned to work in the next 10 years, 69% of the early career doctorates planned to work only in the United States, 27% planned to work in both the United States and abroad, and 3% planned to work abroad.
U.S. citizens and permanent residents accounted for 65% of the early career doctorates population in 2015, with 97% earning their first doctorate from a U.S. academic institution. Among the early career doctorates on a temporary visa, 48% were foreign trained. Citizens of Canada, China, India, Germany, and South Korea constituted nearly two-thirds of the U.S.-trained temporary visa holders and 14% of the U.S.-trained early career doctorates (table 1). Of the estimated 43,300 foreign-trained early career doctorates, almost one-half earned their first doctoral degree from academic institutions in Canada, China, England, India, and Germany (figure 1).
SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Early Career Doctorates Survey pilot study, 2015.
The majority of the early career doctorates (70%) earned their first doctoral degree in the various fields of science, with another 10% in engineering and the remaining 20% in non-science and engineering (non-S&E) fields. Women were as likely as men to have earned their first doctorate in science (33% versus 37%), but they were less likely to have earned a doctorate in engineering (2% versus 8%). Foreign-trained early career doctorates were more likely than their U.S.-trained counterparts to hold their first doctoral degree in science (88% versus 65%), but they had similar rates in engineering (8% versus 11%) (table 1).
The majority of the early career doctorates held faculty positions (54%) or postdoctoral appointments (31%) in 2015, with the remainder (15%) employed in all other staff positions. Foreign-trained early career doctorates mostly held postdoctoral appointments (64%), followed by faculty positions (20%) and all other staff positions (16%). By contrast, among U.S.-trained early career doctorates, the majority (62%) held faculty positions, followed by postdoctoral appointments (24%) and all other staff positions (14%) (table 1).
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S = suppressed for reliability; the coefficient of variation exceeds publication standards. a Full-time faculty includes assistant professors, associate professors, and full professors who work 35 or more hours per week. Other faculty includes all other faculty positions, such as instructors, lecturers, and adjuncts. Postdoc positions are temporary positions awarded in academe, industry, government, or a nonprofit organization primarily for gaining additional education and training in research. All other positions are diverse but are typically nonfaculty scientists, engineers, and research assistants; clinical staff; and administrators. NOTES: Numbers are rounded to the nearest 100. Percentages are rounded to the nearest 10th of a percent. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Early Career Doctorates Survey pilot study, 2015. |
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| Characteristic | Total | U.S degree | Non-U.S degree | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | Percent | Number | Percent | |||
| Total | 228,700 | 185,400 | 81.1 | 43,300 | 18.9 | |
| Citizenship | ||||||
| U.S. citizens and permanent residents | 149,600 | 144,500 | 96.6 | 5,100 | 3.4 | |
| Temporary visa holders | 79,100 | 40,900 | 51.7 | 38,100 | 48.2 | |
| China | 22,900 | 14,200 | 62 | 8,700 | 38 | |
| India | 9,100 | 4,900 | 53.8 | 4,200 | 46.2 | |
| Canada | 5,600 | 2,400 | 42.9 | 3,200 | 57.1 | |
| Germany | 4,900 | 1,400 | 28.6 | 3,600 | 73.5 | |
| South Korea | 4,900 | 3,900 | 79.6 | 1,000 | 20.4 | |
| Italy | 2,900 | 1,000 | 34.5 | 1,900 | 65.5 | |
| France | 1,800 | S | S | 1,500 | 83.3 | |
| Japan | 1,700 | 800 | 47.1 | 900 | 52.9 | |
| Brazil | 1,600 | 900 | 56.3 | 800 | 50 | |
| England | 1,500 | 300 | 20 | 1,200 | 80 | |
| All other countries | 22,000 | 10,900 | 49.5 | 11,000 | 50 | |
| Sex and citizenship | ||||||
| Female | 106,600 | 93,000 | 87.2 | 13,600 | 12.8 | |
| U.S. citizens and permanent residents | 81,400 | 78,700 | 96.7 | 2,700 | 3.3 | |
| Temporary visa holders | 25,100 | 14,300 | 57 | 10,800 | 43 | |
| Male | 122,100 | 92,400 | 75.7 | 29,700 | 24.3 | |
| U.S. citizens and permanent residents | 68,200 | 65,800 | 96.5 | 2,400 | 3.5 | |
| Temporary visa holders | 53,900 | 26,600 | 49.4 | 27,300 | 50.6 | |
| Years since degree | ||||||
| Less than 2 | 46,200 | 36,900 | 79.9 | 9,300 | 20.1 | |
| 2–5 | 92,800 | 75,200 | 81 | 17,600 | 19 | |
| 6–10 | 89,700 | 73,300 | 81.7 | 16,400 | 18.3 | |
| Doctoral degree type | ||||||
| Professional degree | 28,100 | 22,800 | 81.1 | 5,300 | 18.9 | |
| Research degree | 200,600 | 162,700 | 81.1 | 37,900 | 18.9 | |
| Field of doctoral study | ||||||
| Science | 159,100 | 121,100 | 76.1 | 38,000 | 23.9 | |
| Biological sciences | 51,000 | 31,700 | 62.2 | 19,300 | 37.8 | |
| Health sciences | 36,200 | 29,700 | 82 | 6,500 | 18 | |
| Physical sciences | 20,900 | 14,000 | 67 | 6,900 | 33 | |
| Psychology | 12,500 | 12,100 | 96.8 | S | S | |
| Social sciences | 17,500 | 16,700 | 95.4 | 700 | 4 | |
| Other sciences | 21,100 | 17,000 | 80.6 | 4,100 | 19.4 | |
| Engineering | 23,500 | 19,900 | 84.7 | 3,600 | 15.3 | |
| Non-science and engineering | 46,100 | 44,400 | 96.3 | 1,600 | 3.5 | |
| Position typea | ||||||
| Faculty | 123,500 | 114,800 | 93 | 8,700 | 7 | |
| Full time | 96,400 | 89,300 | 92.6 | 7,100 | 7.4 | |
| Other | 27,100 | 25,500 | 94.1 | 1,600 | 5.9 | |
| Postdoc | 71,600 | 43,800 | 61.2 | 27,800 | 38.8 | |
| All other | 33,600 | 26,800 | 79.8 | 6,800 | 20.2 | |
Plans to work outside the United States in the next 10 years varied substantially by citizenship and origin of doctoral degree, with U.S citizen and permanent resident and U.S.-trained early career doctorates more likely to pursue work exclusively in the United States. Overall, just under 70% of early career doctorates planned to work only in the United States, while 27% planned to work both in the United States and abroad. However, 82% of U.S. citizens and permanent residents planned to pursue work only in the United States versus 44% of temporary visa holders. Similarly, just over three-fourths of U.S.-trained early career doctorates planned to work only in the United States, whereas more than one-half of foreign-trained early career doctorates planned to pursue a career both in the United States and abroad in the next 10 years (figure 2).
SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Early Career Doctorates Survey pilot study, 2015.
The ECDS aims to fill gaps in data on individuals who earned their first doctoral degree from foreign academic institutions but are now in the United States. The survey's target population covers both non-U.S. citizens and U.S. citizens and permanent residents in the United States who have received their first doctorate or doctorate-equivalent degree within the past 10 years (between 2004 and 2014). The 2015 ECDS pilot study is a representative two-stage cross-sectional sample survey of establishments and of individuals in three employment settings: U.S. master's- and doctorate-granting academic institutions, FFRDCs, and the NIH IRP. This survey does not cover early career doctorates employed in the nonprofit and for profit sectors.
For the ECDS pilot study, the first stage is a stratified sample of institutions in the three sampled employment settings. Of the sampled institutions, 84.7% participated in the pilot study and provided lists of all early career doctorates working at their institution. The total sample size for the second stage was 6,827 potential early career doctorates (5,120 from institutions in the Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering, 1,457 from FFRDCs, and 250 from the NIH IRP). The overall individual response rate was 66%. The ECDS pilot study estimated 228,700 early career doctorates overall, with 218,800 working at U.S. master's- and doctorate-granting academic institutions, 7,500 at FFRDCs, and 2,400 at the NIH IRP.
The full set of detailed tables from the 2015 ECDS pilot study will be available in the forthcoming report Characteristics of Early Career Doctorates: 2015 at https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/srvyecd/. Individual detailed tables may be available in advance of the full report. For more information, please contact the author.
[1] Kelly Phou, Human Resources Statistics Program, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 965, Arlington, VA 22230 (kphou@nsf.gov; 703-292-4722).