American Economic Assn. Job Market

Most academic specialties have professional associations. Typically, those associations provide a forum for conferences at which presentations are made on various research topics in the field.

It is also common for these meetings to host a job market at which candidates for positions are interviewed.

The American Economic Association (AEA) long followed this standard practice, particularly because its annual meeting has been held just after the New Year holiday, a period when academic institutions are typically looking for job candidates.

However, in recent years the AEA has developed a set of elaborate guidelines for candidates and employers. In part because of the pandemic experience, it now suggests initial interviews be done online with flyouts thereafter. And it asks that interviews NOT occur at the annual meeting. Basically, the suggested guidelines are an attempt to provide transparency for both sides of the labor market.

The economics profession may differ from other social sciences in that there is an extensive labor market outside academia in business, government, consulting, and nonprofit organizations. In that regard, it is similar to some STEM fields. However, other fields and their professional associations might consider variants of the economics example.

You can find the latest (Aug. 5) AEA job market guidelines at:

https://www.aeaweb.org/news/member-announcements/2024-august-05.