In the first study of its kind, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) has found that most Ph.D.'s have jobs a few years out of school, challenging the prevailing notion that top-flight graduate schools produce too many scholars for the market to handle.

The report, produced by GSAS Director of Fellowships Cynthia Verba, examines the employment status of Ph.D.'s who graduated between 1988 to 1993. From a total pool of 1,888 Ph.D.'s, the study was able to track down an impressive 87 percent.

The report found that after at least three years out of school, an average of 94 percent of GSAS graduates have jobs, many of them in academia.

"I'm pleased to see that, in general, people have found jobs they were trained for, both within and outside of academia," said GSAS Dean Christoph Wolff. "What we have here is an indication that we're not overproducing Ph.D.'s, which is often an accusation of people looking at higher education from the outside."

Previous studies had shown that after years of graduate study, students had trouble landing jobs in both academia and industry. However, those studies are based on surveys taken when students finish graduate school, a time when many are focusing on dissertations rather than on resumes.

"We commissioned a new study because we wanted to know precisely what the situation was for Ph.D.'s: how do their chances for employment change over time?" said Wolff.

It revealed a dramatic improvement across disciplines, from the time students earn their degrees to three or more years later. For example, the percentage of employed (inside or outside of academe) humanities scholars climbed from 82 to 95 percent, and those in the social sciences rose from 80 to 97 percent. Natural science students with jobs rocketed from 32 to 90 percent, the majority of them finding jobs after a couple of years doing postdoctoral work.

The number of Ph.D.'s with academic positions improved as well. For example, 81 percent of humanities Ph.D.'s found jobs in academe after three years, up from 71 percent upon graduation. The percentage of social scientists in academe rose from 57 percent to 71 percent.

Verba has been working on issues of professional development for Ph.D.'s since she joined the GSAS administration in 1978. Her book, Scholarly Pursuits: A Practical Guide to Academe, was originally published in the early 1980s and appeared in its fourth edition this fall.

"Two words hold the key to understanding what lies behind the good news in this report -- 'time' and 'professionalism,' " Verba said. "The first refers to the fact that we see a significant improvement in the employment rates for the Ph.D. cohorts in this study when we ask them at least three years after they have received the Ph.D.

"The most plausible explanation for this positive change over time can be summed up in the concept of 'professionalism,' " she continued. "The findings strongly suggest that academic departments and other types of employers of Ph.D.'s are far more likely to hire them once they have had a chance to establish their professional credentials more solidly."

Wolff attributes improvements in the academic job market to a healthier economy and to efforts by many universities to offer retirement incentives to older faculty, opening up their positions to fresh Ph.D.'s.

He hopes the document will help Harvard consider ways to improve opportunities for graduate student employment.

"The report analyzes how and where we can do better," he said. "We need to consider the best ways to support graduate students and respond to those ideas more imaginatively."

Already, GSAS has taken steps to improve the odds for graduate students. It has encouraged academic departments to concentrate their financial aid dollars on a smaller number of top candidates, which has resulted in some trimming of programs. The School is also working to help students complete their degrees faster.

"People who finish in 10 to 12 years often are not as employable as those who finish in 5 to 6," according to Wolff. "As a potential employer, you'd have a preference for someone who works faster."

Adam Fagen, president of the Graduate Student Council and a fifth-year GSAS student, cautions that while the report is encouraging, securing any job, especially a desired one, is still difficult.

"Graduate programs need to be structured so that students don't get too focused," he said. "In addition to spending time on a specific research project, they also need to do things like teach, tutor, and be involved in many different activities in order to succeed in the job market. Students should be able to pursue what interests them, keeping their options open for both academic and nonacademic careers."