A new report on the jobs advertised on the MLA Job List in the 2022–23 academic year is now available. Following a significant decline in the number of jobs advertised in 2020–21 and a strong recovery in 2021–22 to prepandemic levels, jobs held relatively steady in 2022–23. After several years of pandemic-related turbulence and upheaval, these job numbers are an indicator of stabilization.
The number of advertised positions in English declined slightly in 2022–23, from 921 to 911, a decline of 1.1%. After nine years of consistent declines until the pandemic rebound in 2021–22, the number of advertised positions in languages rose for a second year, though only minimally, from 837 to 839, a 0.2% increase. The number of jobs advertised for 2022–23 surpasses those from the years immediately preceding the pandemic and is higher than all years since 2015–16, when the number of advertised positions in English first dipped below the historic threshold of 1,000.
In both English and languages, the percentage of ads for tenure-track positions increased between 2021–22 and 2022–23—from 52.2% to 61.8% in English and from 37.4% to 46.1% in languages—nearly matching the percentage of the immediate prepandemic year, 2018–19.
For more information, including breakdowns of the positions advertised by rank and specialization, read the full report.