Report

Postgraduation trends

A graduate’s first position after earning a doctoral degree may reflect broad economic conditions and can shape later career opportunities, earnings, and choices. Over the longer term, the early career patterns of doctorate recipients may influence the decisions of future students considering careers as scientists, engineers, scholars, and researchers.

Definite commitments at graduation

At any given time, the job market outlook for new doctorate recipients will be better in some doctorate fields than in others. In general, doctorate recipients in S&E fields tend to have robust postgraduation career prospects. Of the 45,533 S&E doctorate recipients in 2023, 41,273 responded to the postgraduation commitment questions. Of those who responded to this question, 30,450 (74%) had definite commitments for employment or postdoctoral study or training (postdoc) positions; 10,823 (26%) did not. The focus of this section is doctorate recipients with definite commitments for employment or postdoc positions.^{For data on doctorate recipients with definite postgraduation commitments for employment or postdoctoral training, see SED 2023 related detailed table 2-1.}

The proportions of 2023 doctorate recipients in S&E with definite commitments for employment or postdoc positions ranged from 68% in biological and biomedical sciences to 80% in psychology (figure 11). The overall proportion of S&E doctorate recipients with definite commitments was higher in 2023 (74%) than in 2003 (71%).^{See SED 2023 related detailed table 2-1.} Compared to 2003, in 2023 the proportion of recipients with definite commitments was higher in most broad fields. The fields with the largest percentage-point growth in definite commitments in the past 20 years were engineering (9 percentage points), psychology (6 percentage points), agricultural sciences and natural resources (6 percentage points), and computer and information sciences (5 percentage points). Biological and biomedical sciences was the only field to experience a decline in definite commitments in the past 20 years, from 72% to 68%, although it has rebounded from a low of 57% in the mid-2010s. The 2023 proportions of doctorate recipients in health sciences and in physical sciences with definite commitments were similar to those in 2003.

Between 2022 and 2023, the proportion of doctorate recipients with definite commitments increased in most fields except physical sciences; health sciences; computer and information sciences; and biological and biomedical sciences. The largest percentage-point increases in definite commitments were in geosciences, atmospheric, and ocean sciences and in agricultural sciences and natural resources (2 percentage points). The largest decrease was in biological and biomedical sciences (3 percentage points).

Figure 11 Definite commitments among doctorate recipients, by S&E trend broad field: 2003–23

(Percent)

Year	Psychology	Computer and information sciences	Geosciences, atmospheric, and ocean sciences	Mathematics and statistics	Social sciences
2003	73.6	72.8	74.9	74.7	72.9
2004	72.2	70.2	70.8	75.0	70.2
2005	73.3	72.9	75.0	76.1	72.6
2006	75.2	72.6	73.7	75.9	73.2
2007	73.6	72.7	76.5	73.3	71.7
2008	73.8	69.8	75.9	72.3	71.9
2009	73.6	72.8	75.5	71.4	72.4
2010	72.9	71.4	74.8	71.6	70.2
2011	71.5	69.0	75.1	70.7	67.2
2012	72.8	71.5	71.2	68.8	68.3
2013	72.3	68.7	67.6	68.5	66.5
2014	72.3	66.4	67.6	67.2	66.0
2015	72.3	69.8	69.2	69.7	66.0
2016	72.3	67.4	65.5	67.4	64.1
2017	76.6	74.3	68.6	70.9	68.8
2018	77.9	75.5	67.0	74.7	70.9
2019	78.1	77.2	68.6	75.3	71.6
2020	80.3	78.2	72.7	74.3	72.3
2021	78.8	78.3	73.3	72.1	70.4
2022	79.4	79.3	75.5	76.4	74.0
2023	80.0	78.2	77.8	77.5	75.4

(Percent)

Year	Agricultural sciences and natural resources	Health sciences	Engineering	Physical sciences	Biological and biomedical sciences
2003	68.2	73.7	64.6	73.2	72.5
2004	67.5	72.6	63.6	70.8	71.6
2005	64.5	72.4	64.6	71.1	71.2
2006	67.8	75.0	66.0	71.7	71.6
2007	67.2	70.4	64.7	70.9	65.3
2008	64.5	72.3	65.1	70.3	64.7
2009	68.2	70.6	66.8	71.4	65.9
2010	65.1	69.7	65.4	71.4	65.2
2011	62.3	67.8	64.1	67.8	61.6
2012	64.2	68.1	64.0	66.0	61.5
2013	62.2	63.7	59.5	63.2	56.7
2014	58.6	63.8	57.2	60.2	56.5
2015	60.3	63.1	58.2	59.3	57.3
2016	58.7	63.0	58.6	61.1	58.8
2017	63.7	69.5	64.1	64.8	63.4
2018	64.9	69.6	65.5	67.0	64.5
2019	65.0	71.7	67.0	67.2	65.6
2020	68.1	70.2	68.4	69.0	65.3
2021	67.9	73.0	67.8	70.7	69.3
2022	72.1	74.8	72.8	73.4	70.8
2023	74.5	74.4	73.6	73.3	68.2

S&E = science and engineering.

Note(s):

Definite commitment refers to a doctorate recipient who is either returning to predoctoral employment or has signed a contract (or otherwise made a definite commitment) for employment or postdoctoral study in the coming year. Percentages are based on the number of doctorate recipients who responded to the postgraduation status item. The postgraduation status question was changed in 2017 to capture postgraduation employment plans more accurately; some of the increase between 2016 and 2017 may be partly attributable to this change. The survey data collection for field of study changed in 2021, which may affect the data comparability across years. For more information, see the “Data source” section.

Source(s):

National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Earned Doctorates, 2023. Related detailed table 2-1.

Overall, the proportion of non-S&E doctorate recipients reporting definite commitments was 73% in 2023 compared with 72% in 2003.^{See SED 2023 related detailed table 2-1.} Since 2003, the proportion of doctorate recipients reporting definite commitments increased or stayed the same in each of the non-S&E broad fields, with each field reaching a low from 2014 to 2016 (figure 12). Doctorate recipients in non-S&E fields experienced drops in commitments in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, but commitments rebounded in 2022 for each broad field and continued to climb in 2023. In the past 20 years, percentage-point growth in definite commitments in non-S&E broad fields was not as high as in some S&E broad fields, with business growing the most (3 percentage points). In 2023, business had the highest proportion of definite commitments of all S&E and non-S&E fields (86%). Humanities and arts had the lowest proportion among all S&E and non-S&E fields (66%).

Figure 12 Definite commitments among doctorate recipients, by non-S&E trend broad field: 2003–23

(Percent)

Year	Business	Education	Other non-S&E fields	Humanities and arts
2003	83.3	75.7	72.3	64.2
2004	81.1	74.6	72.0	63.6
2005	81.9	73.9	70.2	64.5
2006	83.0	74.9	72.6	66.7
2007	77.9	71.6	68.2	62.7
2008	81.7	73.7	72.5	64.5
2009	80.3	71.6	72.6	63.0
2010	79.4	70.7	68.4	60.0
2011	77.6	68.1	65.6	57.3
2012	81.7	69.3	65.3	58.4
2013	76.3	65.8	65.7	54.9
2014	75.7	64.5	61.5	54.6
2015	77.7	64.5	63.7	54.7
2016	75.8	64.8	62.0	51.9
2017	80.8	69.5	67.7	57.2
2018	82.6	71.0	70.6	59.1
2019	82.1	72.7	70.0	58.5
2020	83.4	72.5	71.4	59.5
2021	78.8	71.1	64.9	59.0
2022	81.0	75.1	70.5	62.4
2023	85.9	76.3	72.4	65.8

S&E = science and engineering.

Note(s):

Definite commitment refers to a doctorate recipient who is either returning to predoctoral employment or has signed a contract (or otherwise made a definite commitment) for employment or postdoctoral study in the coming year. Percentages are based on the number of doctorate recipients who responded to the postgraduation status item. The postgraduation status question was changed in 2017 to capture the postgraduation employment plans more accurately. As a result, some of the increase between 2016 and 2017 may be partly attributable to this change. The survey data collection for field of study changed in 2021, which may affect the data comparability across years. For more information, see the “Data source” section.

Source(s):

National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Earned Doctorates, 2023. Related detailed table 2-1.

First postgraduate positions in the United States

In 2023, 22,462 doctorate recipients reported non-postdoc employment commitments in the United States.^{In 2023, 35,280 of the 57,862 doctorate recipients had definite employment or postdoctoral training commitments in the United States; 13,176 of those reporting their postgraduation location as the United States either did not have definite commitments or did not report their status. Of the 35,280 who reported definite employment or postdoctoral training, 22,462 (64%) had definite commitments in employment, and 12,818 (36%) in postdoc positions.} Of these recipients with non-postdoc employment commitments, 34% (7,672) were in academia; 47% (10,495) were in industry or business; 7% (1,535) were in government; 7% (1,462) in nonprofits; and 6% (1,298) in other or did not report the sector. In addition, 12,818 doctorate recipients reported having a postdoc commitment in the United States in 2023.

Academic employment

Doctorate recipients have shifted away from non-postdoc academic employment over time. In 2023, 34% of doctorate recipients with definite non-postdoc employment commitments in the United States reported that their principal job would be in academia,^{For data on doctorate recipients with definite postgraduation employment commitments in academia, see SED 2023 related detailed table 2-6. Academia includes 4-year colleges or universities; medical schools; university-affiliated research institutes; community or 2-year colleges; and foreign educational institutions.} down from 54% in 2003. The proportion of doctorate recipients who reported non-postdoc employment commitments in academia in 2023 was highest in non-S&E fields (61%) and lowest in engineering (10%) and physical sciences (12%) (figure 13).

In the past 20 years, the proportion of non-postdoc academic employment commitments in the United States declined in all S&E fields. The largest percentage-point declines between 2003 and 2023 were in mathematics and statistics, dropping from 70% to 27%, followed by computer and information sciences, dropping from 59% to 22%.^{In 2003, 226 of 325 doctorate recipients in mathematics and statistics had non-postdoc academic employment commitments, compared to 220 out of 814 doctorate recipients in 2023. In 2003, 235 out of 400 doctorate recipients in computer and information sciences had non-postdoc academic employment commitments, compared to 299 out of 1,385 doctorate recipients. These counts are the underlying numbers used to calculate the percentages in related detailed table 2-6.} Between 2022 and 2023, the proportion of doctorate recipients with non-postdoc academic employment commitments increased in all S&E fields except engineering. The largest increases were in geosciences, atmospheric, and ocean sciences and in social sciences (5 percentage points each).

Figure 13 Definite non-postdoc employment commitments in academe in the United States, by trend broad field: 2003–23

(Percent)

Year	Non-S&E fields	Social sciences	Health sciences	Psychology	Agricultural sciences and natural resources
2003	64.0	69.5	61.8	41.6	41.3
2004	65.6	69.6	65.2	46.8	41.0
2005	65.6	70.0	66.8	48.7	38.1
2006	65.4	69.6	58.9	44.0	45.3
2007	66.8	70.4	57.5	45.6	43.9
2008	66.4	70.2	59.2	47.3	41.6
2009	66.2	70.1	65.5	49.3	44.7
2010	67.2	67.5	57.9	46.4	41.0
2011	71.4	67.8	60.1	47.4	40.5
2012	71.3	65.9	58.8	47.5	38.6
2013	72.2	67.3	56.8	45.0	39.5
2014	72.2	66.5	59.4	47.2	40.2
2015	70.7	65.9	60.3	45.7	42.9
2016	68.2	60.3	52.2	42.2	36.5
2017	71.0	61.4	52.6	48.4	39.6
2018	66.4	60.1	55.0	42.9	36.9
2019	66.6	57.5	49.9	40.0	37.8
2020	63.8	56.0	51.6	40.4	39.3
2021	60.8	48.5	47.5	35.1	28.3
2022	60.2	46.3	45.4	34.2	27.6
2023	60.9	50.9	47.8	38.3	31.4

(Percent)

Year	Mathematics and statistics	Geosciences, atmospheric, and ocean sciences	Biological and biomedical sciences	Computer and information sciences	Physical sciences	Engineering
2003	69.5	39.9	46.2	58.8	22.2	21.7
2004	73.1	43.1	45.7	52.7	23.8	22.0
2005	65.1	40.5	47.4	46.0	22.8	18.5
2006	57.6	43.2	39.4	35.4	23.9	14.3
2007	61.0	39.5	41.1	30.9	22.9	13.3
2008	56.6	35.5	43.0	29.6	23.2	15.1
2009	58.7	34.7	40.3	28.6	26.0	14.4
2010	57.4	26.6	44.1	28.2	29.1	16.9
2011	53.9	29.6	42.1	24.0	24.8	13.6
2012	53.7	39.2	38.8	24.5	25.6	13.5
2013	52.2	36.9	40.0	23.6	21.6	13.6
2014	50.8	30.9	38.5	21.7	23.4	14.9
2015	45.6	35.0	35.8	23.3	21.1	14.5
2016	40.1	31.8	30.6	22.6	17.3	14.0
2017	38.9	31.0	32.3	26.2	21.8	13.4
2018	38.4	31.8	30.9	25.4	16.3	12.8
2019	35.4	26.2	27.2	22.3	15.0	12.1
2020	32.9	25.3	27.2	22.3	14.4	10.3
2021	30.7	26.9	22.5	23.9	12.3	11.6
2022	26.5	21.1	18.8	18.5	10.7	10.2
2023	27.0	26.6	22.1	21.6	11.5	9.7

S&E = science and engineering.

Note(s):

Definite employment commitment refers to a doctorate recipient who is either returning to predoctoral employment or has signed a contract (or otherwise made a definite commitment) for employment (excludes postdoctoral study) in the coming year. Percentages are based on the number of doctorate recipients who reported definite employment commitments (including those missing employer type) and plans to stay in the United States. The survey data collection for field of study changed in 2021, which may affect the data comparability across years. For more information, see the “Data source” section.

Source(s):

National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Earned Doctorates, 2023. Related detailed table 2-6.

Industry or business employment

In contrast to the decline in definite non-postdoc employment commitments in academia, the proportion of doctorate recipients with non-postdoc commitments in industry or business in the United States more than doubled since 2003, comprising close to half (47%) of all 2023 doctorate recipient employment commitments.^{For data on doctorate recipients with definite postgraduation employment commitments in industry or business, see related detailed table 2-6.} Definite commitments in industry or business have become more prevalent in all fields. In 2003, only physical sciences (65%) and engineering (63%) had more than half of their doctorate recipients commit to non-postdoc employment positions in industry or business (figure 14). By 2023, several more fields had 50% or more of their doctorate recipients commit to industry or business positions: computer and information sciences; mathematics and statistics; and biological and biomedical sciences. In comparison, only about a quarter of doctorate recipients in health sciences and in social sciences had definite commitments in industry or business—the lowest among S&E fields. While employment commitments in industry or business increased across all fields over the past 20 years, between 2022 and 2023, they declined in every field but engineering.^{For a discussion on recent trends in employment commitment, please see Heuer R, Einaudi P, Kang K; National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES). 2023. Research Doctorate Conferrals Rebound, Leading to Record Number of U.S. Doctorate Recipients in 2022. NSF 23-353. Alexandria, VA: U.S. National Science Foundation. Available at https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf23353/.}

Figure 14 Definite non-postdoc employment commitments in industry or business in the United States, by trend broad field: 2003–23

(Percent)

Year	Engineering	Physical sciences	Computer and information sciences	Mathematics and statistics	Biological and biomedical sciences
2003	62.7	65.0	33.0	23.4	28.7
2004	61.8	59.5	38.9	18.9	27.5
2005	68.7	65.8	48.0	26.6	31.4
2006	72.9	62.0	55.6	31.1	33.2
2007	75.4	64.5	62.3	31.9	37.0
2008	73.7	63.7	64.9	33.4	36.2
2009	73.1	58.2	64.2	28.5	33.6
2010	64.3	52.7	60.9	28.2	30.1
2011	71.1	60.1	64.9	32.2	34.7
2012	72.9	63.7	66.6	37.1	37.9
2013	73.2	67.9	68.8	39.7	38.4
2014	72.1	67.2	71.7	39.7	43.7
2015	72.0	69.8	68.5	45.2	45.4
2016	72.9	71.6	69.0	51.3	47.2
2017	73.7	68.6	65.8	51.7	50.5
2018	74.5	72.7	67.7	52.2	49.1
2019	74.3	75.7	69.3	55.4	54.7
2020	77.0	74.8	69.8	57.5	57.5
2021	75.8	77.2	69.0	59.8	61.0
2022	78.8	80.2	73.7	62.7	66.5
2023	79.6	79.4	70.3	62.7	61.6

(Percent)

Year	Agricultural sciences and natural resources	Geosciences, atmospheric, and ocean sciences	Psychology	Health sciences	Social sciences	Non-S&E fields
2003	30.9	32.3	24.2	16.7	12.4	5.9
2004	31.0	30.0	18.8	15.5	10.0	5.1
2005	32.5	32.7	20.8	15.1	10.3	5.6
2006	28.2	33.2	19.3	15.2	10.6	5.2
2007	28.9	36.8	20.5	18.3	10.8	5.3
2008	30.9	43.4	18.9	15.7	11.6	5.2
2009	25.7	46.5	19.7	14.0	11.9	5.2
2010	26.1	45.3	20.3	18.3	10.0	5.8
2011	28.7	41.8	19.8	15.9	10.3	5.6
2012	29.7	35.8	22.8	16.4	11.6	5.5
2013	34.3	36.9	22.1	15.9	11.6	5.3
2014	35.7	47.1	23.7	15.0	12.8	5.7
2015	36.9	44.0	25.4	14.0	12.1	6.5
2016	40.3	39.9	25.4	20.3	15.9	6.3
2017	37.6	34.1	24.6	19.6	17.1	6.8
2018	36.9	40.6	27.9	18.9	17.9	7.8
2019	41.5	39.1	29.0	22.1	18.0	8.0
2020	32.1	41.2	29.5	23.4	18.4	9.3
2021	48.4	36.8	35.7	25.2	22.6	10.5
2022	48.7	44.2	38.1	28.0	26.6	11.5
2023	43.8	42.3	33.2	27.6	23.1	11.4

S&E = science and engineering.

Note(s):

Definite employment commitment refers to a doctorate recipient who is either returning to predoctoral employment or has signed a contract (or otherwise made a definite commitment) for employment (excludes postdoctoral study) in the coming year. Definite commitments in industry or business includes doctorate recipients who are self-employed. Percentages are based on the number of doctorate recipients who reported definite employment commitments (including those missing employer type) and plans to stay in the United States. The survey data collection for field of study changed in 2021, which may affect the data comparability across years. For more information, see the “Data source” section.

Source(s):

National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Earned Doctorates, 2023. Related detailed table 2-6.

Postdoc positions

Twenty-year trends in postdoc commitments varied by field. Historically, postdoc positions have been a customary part of the early career paths of doctorate recipients in biological and biomedical sciences; physical sciences; and geosciences, atmospheric, and ocean sciences—comprising over half of definite commitments. Since 2007, the postdoc rates in psychology have also exceeded 50% (figure 15).

In the past 20 years, 5 of the 10 S&E broad fields experienced increases in postdoc rates. The largest increases in postdoc rates were in psychology (17 percentage points); social sciences (13 percentage points); geosciences, atmospheric, and ocean sciences (11 percentage points); and health sciences (11 percentage points). Although over half of the doctorate recipients with definite commitments in biological and biomedical sciences and close to half of those with definite commitments in the physical sciences pursued a postdoc position in 2023, these fields experienced a decline of 20 and 16 percentage points, respectively, in the past 2 decades. Between 2022 and 2023, the postdoc rate decreased in most of the S&E broad fields. The largest declines were in agricultural sciences and natural resources (4 percentage points), followed by physical sciences, mathematics and statistics, and engineering (3 percentage points each).

Figure 15 S&E U.S. postdoc rate for doctorate recipients, by trend broad field: 2003–23

(Percent)

Year	Geosciences, atmospheric, and ocean sciences	Psychology	Biological and biomedical sciences	Physical sciences	Agricultural sciences and natural resources
2003	53.1	42.3	78.1	62.2	42.5
2004	58.7	46.4	82.2	67.3	47.2
2005	61.0	47.6	81.4	67.0	43.0
2006	56.3	46.3	78.4	64.9	42.4
2007	57.5	50.1	79.7	67.6	46.0
2008	56.2	51.1	77.6	64.9	48.3
2009	60.5	51.5	79.6	66.0	45.7
2010	62.1	52.6	81.4	74.3	51.9
2011	61.0	56.4	81.5	69.0	50.4
2012	66.7	57.2	78.2	66.5	51.7
2013	65.0	56.2	76.9	64.8	48.9
2014	60.8	55.7	77.8	60.0	47.2
2015	63.8	57.9	75.0	61.9	48.7
2016	64.0	55.7	72.3	57.8	44.1
2017	60.1	58.9	71.5	56.4	47.1
2018	63.7	58.8	69.9	54.7	47.8
2019	58.4	58.6	67.8	55.4	48.5
2020	62.5	60.0	67.3	56.4	46.3
2021	65.7	60.3	65.7	59.8	50.3
2022	64.8	60.4	59.5	49.9	50.1
2023	64.2	58.9	57.8	46.5	45.8

(Percent)

Year	Mathematics and statistics	Health sciences	Engineering	Social sciences	Computer and information sciences
2003	44.3	23.8	33.9	15.9	20.5
2004	43.7	25.8	38.5	16.4	22.7
2005	42.1	23.0	34.1	14.5	22.6
2006	41.3	25.9	30.0	15.4	17.0
2007	41.0	26.4	31.5	17.7	18.7
2008	40.6	27.1	30.1	17.6	21.9
2009	42.1	27.3	35.7	16.9	22.3
2010	48.0	33.3	46.1	19.7	31.5
2011	47.8	30.6	41.4	22.1	27.1
2012	45.2	28.8	35.5	21.9	22.2
2013	41.3	29.1	35.1	21.2	22.2
2014	43.0	31.7	33.3	21.2	19.5
2015	41.4	31.2	35.3	21.5	20.1
2016	39.8	34.3	33.5	21.6	19.8
2017	40.1	32.6	37.4	22.3	18.9
2018	40.9	35.4	34.1	22.8	18.8
2019	37.9	34.9	34.8	24.5	19.5
2020	37.4	36.0	35.9	24.8	19.0
2021	42.0	38.6	38.6	28.4	22.1
2022	42.8	34.1	32.8	29.7	20.2
2023	39.9	34.5	29.9	28.4	19.1

S&E = science and engineering.

Note(s):

Percentages are based on the number of doctorate recipients who reported definite commitments in the coming year, who reported whether their commitment was for employment or postdoctoral study, and who plan to live in the United States. The survey data collection for field of study changed in 2021, which may affect the data comparability across years. For more information, see the “Data source” section.

Source(s):

National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Earned Doctorates, 2023. Related detailed table 2-3.

Temporary visa holders

Among S&E doctorate recipients who are temporary visa holders, working in the United States after earning a doctoral degree has become more prevalent, though uneven through the years. In 2023, 85% of S&E temporary visa holder doctorate recipients with definite commitments reported that the location of their postdoc or employment position was in the United States, up from 72% in 2003.^{In 2023, 10,212 of 12,041 S&E temporary visa holder doctorate recipients reported that the location of their postdoc or employment position was in the United States, compared with 4,063 of 5,676 S&E temporary visa holder doctorate recipients in 2003.} Between 2003 and 2023, the largest increases in expected stay rates were among doctorate recipients in agricultural sciences and natural resources and in health sciences (36 percentage points each); the smallest was among those in physical sciences (2 percentage points) (figure 16).

In 2023, in all S&E fields, the majority of temporary visa holder doctorate recipients expected to stay in the United States. Expected stay rates were over 80% in all S&E fields except health sciences (74%) and social sciences (64%). Similarly, between 2022 and 2023, the proportion of temporary visa holder doctorate recipients with definite commitments in the United States grew in all fields except health sciences and social sciences. The largest increases from 2022 to 2023 were in agricultural sciences and natural resources (10 percentage points) and psychology (7 percentage points).

Figure 16 S&E temporary visa holder doctorate recipients with definite commitments in the United States, by trend broad field: 2003–23

(Percent)

Year	Biological and biomedical sciences	Engineering	Computer and information sciences	Physical sciences	Agricultural sciences and natural resources
2003	82.8	73.1	82.1	84.4	49.7
2004	85.8	77.1	74.2	84.6	58.9
2005	88.0	80.4	82.8	86.0	56.8
2006	89.6	84.8	84.8	85.4	61.8
2007	85.1	85.5	84.1	82.6	64.8
2008	85.4	84.8	85.4	83.6	62.0
2009	86.3	83.3	86.4	81.4	66.0
2010	85.8	79.0	76.6	81.9	63.2
2011	85.3	80.8	81.6	80.8	62.4
2012	84.3	82.5	83.6	81.0	65.8
2013	81.6	81.4	88.6	79.0	65.7
2014	83.2	83.3	88.8	77.4	63.9
2015	84.1	84.6	87.4	83.7	66.5
2016	86.1	85.4	88.5	83.7	59.5
2017	86.7	84.8	87.4	83.4	68.4
2018	87.0	85.1	86.2	81.5	65.1
2019	84.7	82.8	86.1	81.5	68.5
2020	84.3	85.5	85.1	84.4	67.8
2021	84.6	85.2	87.2	81.8	75.7
2022	86.5	87.4	87.7	84.6	75.7
2023	89.7	89.4	88.1	85.9	85.7

(Percent)

Year	Psychology	Mathematics and statistics	Geosciences, atmospheric, and ocean sciences	Health sciences	Social sciences
2003	74.6	73.1	74.5	52.4	49.0
2004	64.3	77.6	68.8	57.9	51.8
2005	70.0	77.3	76.3	59.5	52.9
2006	77.7	81.2	71.7	63.3	58.2
2007	68.1	79.4	76.9	64.5	62.1
2008	70.6	76.7	77.9	75.9	59.6
2009	71.8	77.9	79.8	70.3	54.8
2010	65.7	74.4	78.4	75.8	46.5
2011	71.0	75.4	73.4	71.4	52.5
2012	67.5	76.5	72.6	67.5	50.2
2013	57.1	74.1	75.4	72.1	50.0
2014	59.2	75.3	75.5	75.5	51.6
2015	66.0	80.8	77.6	71.6	51.9
2016	70.7	82.7	75.2	70.5	53.7
2017	78.5	79.5	72.5	69.1	54.9
2018	72.6	78.5	76.2	72.4	54.8
2019	70.4	79.7	72.8	69.0	56.8
2020	73.9	82.1	74.4	66.1	60.0
2021	76.0	75.9	73.7	72.3	53.8
2022	77.7	80.7	81.3	75.1	64.6
2023	84.2	83.5	83.0	73.5	64.1

S&E = science and engineering.

Note(s):

Definite commitment refers to a doctorate recipient who is either returning to predoctoral employment or has signed a contract (or otherwise made a definite commitment) for employment or postdoctoral study in the coming year. Percentages are based on the number of S&E temporary visa holder doctorate recipients who reported definite commitments. The survey data collection for field of study changed in 2021, which may affect the data comparability across years. For more information, see the “Data source” section.

Source(s):

National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Earned Doctorates, 2023. Related detailed table 6-3.

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