Skip to main content

Currently Skimming:

Appendix A: Enrollment and Employment Trends in Geography
Pages 187-217

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.


From page 187...
... The Employment Forecasting Committee's analysis was published in the August 1995 issue of the Professional Geographer and is reprinted here with the permission of the AAG and Blackwell Publishers. 1 Patricia Gober (Chair)
From page 188...
... Rediscovering Geography Committee. This report provides a data-based analysis of the past and future supply of geographers, the current labor market conditions in the field, and the factors likely to influence the future demand for geographers (faculty hiring, geographic education initiatives, trends in private-sector jobs, etc.)
From page 189...
... ~ 2000a) 3000 1 000 o 189 The NCES series reveals a surge in geography degrees granted in the late 1960s and early 1970s as the first wave of the baby boom generation began to graduate from colleges and universities, as a higher proportion of young people sought access to higher education, and as amendments to the National Defense Education Act IDEAS in 1964 bolstered graduate enrollments (Fig.
From page 190...
... Several factors are probably responsible for the renewed vigor in geography's degree production at the bachelor's and master's levels. They include rising public concern with environmental and international problems, greater attention to geographic education at the precollegiate and collegiate levels, and technological 160 ~ 0 140 o X ao 100 120 ~ a, 80 ~ 60 40 REDISCOVERING GEOGRAPHY advances in GIS that provide resew geographers with highly marketable skills.
From page 191...
... In recent years, the number of geography degrees has increased while the number of physical science degrees has declined. Enrollments in geography programs provide another picture of labor supply conditions in the field, although the connection between supply and enrollment is less direct than the association between supply and degrees granted.
From page 192...
... To obtain information about trends in undergraduate enrollments and, hence, the future supply of bachelor's-level geographers, we examined the number of "students in residence" in the Guide to Programs of Geography in He Utzited States and Canada from 198~1987 through 1993-1994. We eliminated those schools for which we were unable to obtain a complete record of enrollment data because we wanted to conduct a longitudinal investigation of how a constant set of schools performed through time rather than to obtain a series of cross-sectional studies of an ever-changing mix of programs.
From page 193...
... Academic Science/Eng~neer~ng: Graduate Enrollment and Support, Fall 1991. reasonably accurate guide to degrees granted in geography, it is logical to expect the accelerated enrollment in geography programs after 1992 to translate into higher degree production in 1992-1993 and 1993-1994.
From page 194...
... Moreover, since geography began its rebound in 1988, it has outpaced higher education as a whole in the number of degrees granted. NCES projects aggregates rather than individual disciplines or areas (social sciences, education, engineering, physical sciences, etc.)
From page 195...
... Geographic Education Initiatives To gain yet another perspective on the future supply of geographers, we asked several key Geographic Alliance Coordinators to com
From page 196...
... ment on the "trickle-up" effects of geographic education initiatives. To what extent, in other words, has the enhanced visibility of geography at the pre-collegiate level translated into more collegiate geography majors who will, in turn, constitute the future supply of new geographers?
From page 197...
... in an introductory geography course used to fulfill the admissions deficiency in geography, and a new faculty line targeted to provide instruction in this introductory course. Texas Geographic Alliance Coordinators also describe an increase in majors and in freshmen taking geography courses.
From page 198...
... To We extent that the number of geography majors and geography degree recipients correlates closely with labor force entrants, it is clear that We supply of new geographers has risen dramatically in recent years. The evidence also supports continued growth in the supply of new geographers.
From page 199...
... The second article in this series describes current labor market conditions for new geogTaphers. G Literature Cited Bureau of Labor Statistics.
From page 200...
... We employment experiences of recent graduates of geography programs and (2) He activities of He Association of American Geographers Convention Placement Services (CoPS)
From page 201...
... Although verification of this hypothesis awaits careful longitudinal analysis that follows a panel of recent graduates through their early work careers, our data are suggestive of such a pattern. Differences in employment status by year of graduation probably do not result from varying labor market conditions.
From page 202...
... The proportion of new geographers at the bachelor's level holding positions in closely related fields is high by social science standards. During the early 1990s, only 16% of social science bachelor's degree recipients nationwide were employed full-time in jobs closely related to their fields of study one year after graduation (NCES 1993)
From page 203...
... Geography plays to the creativity, diver sity, and flexibility of the contemporary labor market as much as it fills the standard niches of cartographer, planner, environmental man ager, GIS/remote sensing specialist, and government and education were the most likely to be involved in geographic occupations. We cross-classified type of employer by occupation to gain a clearer picture of kinds of work geographers do for different types of employer (Table 5)
From page 204...
... A second glimpse at current labor market conditions in geography comes from the AAG's Convention Placement Service (CoPS)
From page 205...
... ~ 200 ( ) : z \ 150 100 205 · Interviews Applicants do_ Pa O 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 Year Figure 1: Number of Applicants and Interviews Recorded by the AAG Convention Placement Service.
From page 206...
... Although our results need to be verified by careful longitudinal analysis, we picked up this trend in the experiences of recent geography graduates. Many newcomers to the labor market appear to face a period of transition between the time they receive their undergraduate degrees and the point at which they settle into stable, full-time employment.
From page 207...
... To gain an understanding of future demand conditions in colleges and universities, we projected the retirement of AAG members by topical specialty and then matched these retirement trends with a profile of new faculty searches as reported by geography department chairs. We assessed the likely future demand for geography teachers at the precollegiate level through a survey of Geography Alliance Coordinators about teacher certification requirements and the education environments in their respective states.
From page 208...
... More older than younger geographers claim specializations in cultural/historical geography, agricultural/rural geography, regional geography, geographic thought, and geographic educat~on. Birth Year After 1959 After 1959 1950-1959 1940-1949 Before 1940 TotalBefore 1940 Agricultural/Rural 26 48 37 45 156-19 Applied/Planning 64 75 101 62 3022 Biogeography 62 78 38 18 19644 Cartography/Photogrammetry 166 151 99 81 49785 Remote Sensing 40 45 24 18 12722 Climatology 82 93 61 45 28137 Conservation/Land Use 151 127 110 91 47760 Cultural Ecology 42 34 30 18 12424 Cultural/Historical 1 35 1 24 1 90 1 82 631-47 Economic 152 201 159 118 63034 Geographic Education 27 29 30 33 119-6 GIS 182 118 67 18 385164 Geographic Thought 2 6 1 14 23-12 Geomorphology 58 86 50 30 22428 Physical 66 72 75 54 26712 Political 40 42 38 36 1564 Population 17 30 39 23 109-6 Quantitative 8 8 15 6 372 RecreationtTourism 10 12 12 13 47-3 Social 34 35 20 12 10122 TransportationtCommunications 14 16 22 1 1 633 Urban 53 57 71 51 2322 Water Resources 19 30 14 14 775 Other 20 18 37 39 1 14-19 Regional 6 10 ~_ ~ Source: 1993 AAG membership data.
From page 209...
... We used the same categories as Next 5 Years Next 10 Years Agricultural/Rural 9 21 Applied/Planning 14 32 Biogeography 4 10 Cartography/Photogrammetry 15 37 Remote Sensing 3 10 Climatology 8 22 Conservation/Land Use 18 42 Cultural Ecology 4 9 Cultural/Historical 36 86 Economic 24 58 Geographic Education 8 18 GIS 3 13 Geographic Thought 3 6 Geomorphology 6 16 Physical 11 27 Political 8 16 Population 5 12 Quantitative 2 4 Recreation/Tourism 2 8 Social 2 6 Transportation/Communications 2 6 Urban 8 23 Water Resources 2 7 Other 8 20 Regional 3 6 Source: Prelections based on 1993 AAG membership dam.
From page 210...
... Precollegiate Geography Teachers To gauge the future demand for geography teachers at the precollegiate level, we asked Geography Alliance Coordinators to respond to a series of questions about teacher certification requirements and the education environment of their states. We received replies from
From page 211...
... We received, quite literally, 37 different responses to our questions about certification and the local education environment. The Alliance Coordinators told us, in essence, that the future demand for geography teachers depends upon whether local school
From page 212...
... geography courses are required for certification. Should it occur, the full implementation of the National Geography Standards will be played out across a highly disparate landscape of geographic education, and it is onto that landscape that we must gauge the future demand for geography teachers.
From page 213...
... Geographic Alliance activities, along with national-level geographic education initiatives, will almost certainly result in a higher visibility for geography within the curriculum and in more geography courses being offered, but most of this material and most of the courses will be taught, at least in the short run, by transfers from other fields. The full and widespread implementation of the National Geography Standards, if it occurs, would have a deeper and more long-lasting effect on the long-term labor market for geography teachers.
From page 214...
... demand for geography teachers at the secondary level. The demand for collegiate-level faculty and elementary teachers is expected to grow at rates about average for the economy as a whole.
From page 215...
... Companies currently hiring graduates with GIS training may be able to find cheaper, equally skilled workers in other English-speaking countries. Lest we think this trend cannot have an impact on our field, keep in mind that major software companies use English-speaking labor forces around the world to answer user problems and to provide technical assistance.
From page 216...
... We note the consistency in the theme of GIS as the handle with which new geographers gain access to the labor market. Summary and Conclusions This scan of future demand conditions questions whether there will be sufficient jobs for the explosion of new geography majors curren~dy in the educational pipeline (see Part 1 in this series)
From page 217...
... The effects of geographic education initiatives on the labor market for geographers will be played out over a geographically disparate landscape of teacher cernfica~aon requirements, high school geography requirements, and university entrance requirements. Because education, Including geographic education, is largely a local matter, local geographers are best equipped to keep tabs on state ceri~fica~aon requirement and their effect on the demand for geography teachers, university requ~rements and their effects on precollegiate geography training, and the trickle-up effects of the implementation of National Geography Standards.


This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More information on Chapter Skim is available.