# AMS Releases Second Report on the 2007 Survey of the Mathematical Sciences

The Annual Survey of the Mathematical Sciences compiles information about degree recipients, departments, faculties, and students in the mathematical sciences at four-year colleges. The Second Report on the 2007 Survey, published in the August Notices of the AMS, highlights new doctoral recipients and provides data on starting salaries and other employment information.

The First Report appeared in the February Notices of the AMS.

According to the Second Report, 1,333 doctoral recipients graduated from U.S. institutions in 2006-2007, up 2% from the previous year and continuing an upswing that began in 2002-2003. The total represents the highest number of new math Ph.D.s ever reported.

The unemployment rate was 2.4% for all 2006-2007 doctoral recipients and 1.5% for women, the lowest percentages reported since the early 1990s.

The number of new doctoral recipients who are U.S. citizens stood at 576, up 4% from last year's number and 15% from 2002-2003. The total is the highest number reported in the past ten surveys.

The percentage of U.S. citizens among all doctoral recipients stood at 43%, up from 42% last year. The number of new doctoral recipients who are not U.S. citizens was 757, down 2 from last year's number.

Women totaled 446 (33%) of all new doctoral recipients, up in number and percentage from 422 (32%) in the previous year. Of the 576 U.S. citizen new doctoral recipients, 180 were female (31%), up in both number and percentage from last year.

Of the 576 U.S. citizens who obtained doctorates, 6% were minorities (compared to 8% in the previous survey).

Of the 1,190 new doctoral recipients whose employment status is known, 1,151 reported having jobs in fall 2007, with 88% (1,012) finding employment in the U.S. compared with 87% last year. Non-U.S. citizens accounted for 52% of those employed in the U.S. Last year, the number was 58%.

The number of new doctoral recipients hired into U.S. academic positions in fall 2007 was 756. This is the highest such number reported over the past twenty-six years. The number of new doctoral recipients taking positions in U.S. business and industry and in government was 256 in fall 2007, a 5% increase from last year's numbers. This group constitutes 25% of all the new doctoral recipients employed in the U.S., the same percentage as last year.

For 2007, the median starting salary in academic teaching or research positions was about $50,000. Academic postdocs reported a median starting salary of$48,000. The median starting salary was $69,000 in a government position and$90,000 in business and industry.

The 2007 Annual Survey represents the fifty-first in an annual series begun in 1957 by the AMS. Information about recipients of doctoral degrees awarded between July 1, 2006, and June 30, 2007, was collected from doctorate-granting departments beginning in late spring 2007.

The 2007 Survey is under the direction of the Data Committee, a joint committee of the MAA, AMS, SIAM, ASA, and the Institute of Mathematical Statistics. The committee members are Richard Cleary, Amy Cohen-Corwin, Richard M. Dudley, John W. Hagood, Abbe H. Herzig, Donald R. King, David J. Lutzer, James W. Maxwell (ex officio), Bart Ng, Polly Phipps (chair), David E. Rohrlich, and Henry Schenck.—H. Waldman

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4457
News Date:
Thursday, August 7, 2008