I have been tracking full-time TESOL jobs since Fall 2009, my first year as a Ph.D. student at the University of Iowa. Back then, the job market was quite bad because of the 2008 economic crisis. My motivation for tracking jobs was to help my future TESOL students understand the market. This was based on colleagues asking about good locations to live and work. I had hunches but not enough data, and now I have almost a decade of data.
I did not track K-12 jobs or part-time/adjunct positions. For a few years, I tracked TESOL jobs overseas, but I stopped because I realized that HigherEdJobs.com is/was mainly US-focused. I also did not track jobs that required or strongly preferred applicants to have a specific religious affiliation or background.
Figure 1 - TESOL Jobs in the US, 2009-2018
This sudden increase and decrease also affected my first job after earning my doctoral degree. In 2015, I was hired as an administrator to coordinate the curriculum and assessment for an intensive English program that had over twenty instructors. Over 80% of the students were from Saudi Arabia. When the funding began to decrease the following year, so did our enrollment and the number of faculty. In my second year, I oversaw twelve instructors. And by the end of my third year, half of those instructors were let go along with me. You don't need three administrators coordinating six instructors. So when I see the blue line spiking in 2014, I see money from Saudi Arabia as the main contribution.
2016 saw community college jobs increasing and surpassing university ESL jobs. However, my data below shows that most of these are in the state of California. So if you want to get to get a full-time community college job in the states, head west and wait in line. My experiences with community college jobs are that full-time jobs often go to their adjunct instructors. However, that means they do not often post publicly for a national search. I clearly do not know enough about the community college job market in California. I've only had community college experiences in Maryland and Iowa.
Table 1 - Number of community college ESL jobs by state, 2009-2018 (top 13 states)
The administrative positions seem to parallel the university ESL instructor positions. When there are fewer students, then you need fewer instructors and even fewer administrators. If you understand what's happening to the university ESL job market, then you shouldn't be surprised by the administrators' job market.
Lastly, there's "other." It's the only sector that shows positive growth, but there are still more jobs in most other sectors. When you look at 2018, you can see that all these sectors are bunching closer together. No one job sector jumps out anymore as showing promise. The job market has been quite gloomy for our field after several decades of growth.
Also do not forget the increasing demand for online or e-learning. This has made our traditional face-to-face teaching market more competitive. Every day, I get a notification from LinkedIn about new online teaching opportunities, nearly all of them part-time. I do not believe we are heading towards a future that is dominated by the gig economy. In fact, I am hopeful that we will soon be headed towards a rebirth in investment in full-time educators. The past decade a lot of investment has been in education technology but not so much in the people and the structure to support and retain highly qualified educators. Perhaps in the next decade, language teachers will be in demand for our unique skills to develop intercultural communication and multiple literacies.
For more information, please leave a comment here or follow me on Twitter. I'd be happy to share more of my job market data if you are interested. You can also view my post on the job market from two years ago at https://jesl1.blogspot.com/2017/01/2016-elt-job-market-in-united-states.html
What did I track?
In Fall 2009, I started tracking TESOL job announcements from HigherEdJobs.com and the TESOL Career Center for tenure and non-tenure professorships in universities and community colleges. In 2010, I expanded my tracking to include instructor positions at universities (mainly intensive English programs) and "other" jobs, which used to be mainly governmental, non-profit, and publishing jobs. But now they are predominantly in the for-profit higher education ELT industry, including corporations like Shorelight and INTO. In 2011, I expanded once more to include administrative TESOL positions, mainly director or assistant director positions at intensive English programs.I did not track K-12 jobs or part-time/adjunct positions. For a few years, I tracked TESOL jobs overseas, but I stopped because I realized that HigherEdJobs.com is/was mainly US-focused. I also did not track jobs that required or strongly preferred applicants to have a specific religious affiliation or background.
Figure 1 - TESOL Jobs in the US, 2009-2018
What happened to university ESL jobs?
Up until 2016, university ESL jobs dominated the market. Because I wasn't tracking all university ESL jobs until 2011, I assume they dominated the market in 2009 and 2010. The main concern is the drop in 2016. My data shows one possible explanation, the increase in "other" jobs, mainly the for-profit institutions like Shorelight and INTO. Another explanation, not shown in the data, is the reduction in Saudi scholarships. According to NAFSA, there was a big spike in Saudi scholarships in 2012, likely correlating with my university ESL data. Those numbers dropped four years later in 2016, also likely correlating with my data.This sudden increase and decrease also affected my first job after earning my doctoral degree. In 2015, I was hired as an administrator to coordinate the curriculum and assessment for an intensive English program that had over twenty instructors. Over 80% of the students were from Saudi Arabia. When the funding began to decrease the following year, so did our enrollment and the number of faculty. In my second year, I oversaw twelve instructors. And by the end of my third year, half of those instructors were let go along with me. You don't need three administrators coordinating six instructors. So when I see the blue line spiking in 2014, I see money from Saudi Arabia as the main contribution.
What about other jobs in the US?
For those with doctoral degrees looking for professorships, the market has improved from 2008 to 2012, but then it has stagnated since. I don't have the data before 2009, but many of my colleagues speak about how wonderful the job market was back then. It's been over a decade, and there's no hint of the job market improving. One just has to read The Chronicle of Higher Education to learn that nearly every field has seen stagnation in the professor job market since the economic crisis in 2008. If no higher education reform takes place, the stagnation will likely continue or it will get worse.2016 saw community college jobs increasing and surpassing university ESL jobs. However, my data below shows that most of these are in the state of California. So if you want to get to get a full-time community college job in the states, head west and wait in line. My experiences with community college jobs are that full-time jobs often go to their adjunct instructors. However, that means they do not often post publicly for a national search. I clearly do not know enough about the community college job market in California. I've only had community college experiences in Maryland and Iowa.
Table 1 - Number of community college ESL jobs by state, 2009-2018 (top 13 states)
The administrative positions seem to parallel the university ESL instructor positions. When there are fewer students, then you need fewer instructors and even fewer administrators. If you understand what's happening to the university ESL job market, then you shouldn't be surprised by the administrators' job market.
Lastly, there's "other." It's the only sector that shows positive growth, but there are still more jobs in most other sectors. When you look at 2018, you can see that all these sectors are bunching closer together. No one job sector jumps out anymore as showing promise. The job market has been quite gloomy for our field after several decades of growth.
Are we at or near the end of a high demand for English language teachers?
I don't think so, but I can only speculate. The Saudi scholarships gave our field a sense of security for a few years, but we can't survive on temporary bubbles like that. My colleagues in American public schools say that the demand for English language specialists has not dropped like the other sectors in the United States. Most new professorship announcement are to help address this demand. As far as overeas jobs, I have not seen a drop for a demand for EFL teachers in Saudi Arabia or China. That could change quickly given our current political climate. There are other countries around the world with a growing need for English teachers as well. I'm thinking of those in Southeast Asia in particular.Also do not forget the increasing demand for online or e-learning. This has made our traditional face-to-face teaching market more competitive. Every day, I get a notification from LinkedIn about new online teaching opportunities, nearly all of them part-time. I do not believe we are heading towards a future that is dominated by the gig economy. In fact, I am hopeful that we will soon be headed towards a rebirth in investment in full-time educators. The past decade a lot of investment has been in education technology but not so much in the people and the structure to support and retain highly qualified educators. Perhaps in the next decade, language teachers will be in demand for our unique skills to develop intercultural communication and multiple literacies.
For more information, please leave a comment here or follow me on Twitter. I'd be happy to share more of my job market data if you are interested. You can also view my post on the job market from two years ago at https://jesl1.blogspot.com/2017/01/2016-elt-job-market-in-united-states.html
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