The number of full-time faculty decreased at most U.S. colleges and universities and full-time faculty wages, adjusted for inflation, also decreased at most institutions, based on the latest Faculty Compensation Survey conducted by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP).
The 2020-21 survey, which ended in March, included 929 U.S. colleges and universities providing employment data for nearly 380,000 full-time faculty members as well as senior administrators at nearly 600 institutions.
A key finding among the survey results was that real wages for full-time faculty decreased for the first time since the Great Recession, and average wage growth for all ranks of full-time faculty was the lowest since the AAUP began tracking annual wage growth in 1972.
The number of full-time faculty declined at 62% of institutions during the survey period and the average wage growth for all ranks of full-time faculty was the lowest since the tracking began in 1972. After adjusting for inflation, real wages decreased at over two-thirds of colleges and universities.
“At a time when many institutions were already struggling financially, many lowered their expenditures by enacting hiring freezes, salary cuts, fringe benefit cuts, furloughs, and layoffs,” the AAUP stated. The survey results showed how these actions have affected faculty members.
Many faculty who remained at their institutions were subjected to freezes or reductions in wages. Nearly 60% of the institutions surveyed implemented salary freezes or reductions and about 30 % eliminated or reduced some form of fringe benefits. “To understand the ways in which institutions responded to the COVID-19 pandemic, the AAUP also asked participating institutions to identify how many faculty members–both tenure-line and non-tenure-track–were impacted by actions taken by institutions,” the report states.
Faculty who work year to year and lack tenure status were hardest hit.
