I recommend not being pessimistic at all, but a healthy dose of realism is a good thing. Broadening what one considers acceptable employment helps. Enrollments are booming in community colleges and regional state schools during this time of high unemployment/underemployment. Eventually jobs will start to be available in those circumstances, and that will take up some of the pool of scientists who decide they'd rather teach than starve. We won't be in this "to hell with education and research" mode forever. Wiser heads will eventually prevail in congress and state governments. Despite present circumstances, we actually have a history as a country of supporting higher education. That's why our higher education system is so attractive to foreign students. We also have a history of supporting science, and will do so again. David McNeely
---- J B <jeb...@ymail.com> wrote: > As a graduate student, how pessimistic should one be about obtaining academic employment after completing a PhD? Many articles I’ve seen present a rather pessimistic picture, although most of these are not specific to ecology, but address STEM in general: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/us-pushes-for-more-scientists-but-the-jobs-arent-there/2012/07/07/gJQAZJpQUW_story.html http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=does-the-us-produce-too-m http://www.economist.com/node/17723223 http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/24301 http://wuphys.wustl.edu/~katz/scientist.html http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/05/12/workforce -curious grad student -- David McNeely
