We'll have more concrete evidence soon, since we're a month or so away from the October JFP. I have no special "inside" information, just accumulated anecdotal evidence. My best guess is that we will see more jobs this year than last, but that the market will be at least as competitive as last year due to the growing backlog of candidates who did not secure positions last year or the year before. If--and this is a huge *if*--there is not a double-dip recession and the economic climate continues to improve, then maybe in two or three years we will see an academic job market with more favorable numbers. But that also supposes that some candidates will have given up in the interim. The inescapable reality, I am sad to say, is that there is going to be some number of very able candidates who would have secured tenure-track employment had they been entering the market ten years ago, but will not find such employment in the current severely depressed academic market. It behooves all job seekers to have back-up plans in place, whether that means additional education or non-academic employment, and whether those plans are conceived as alternatives to an academic career or as ways of postponing the academic job search.
Information and perspective from others is welcome. Signed comments preferred, as usual.
