Not a good sign

Brad Delong, Professor of Economics at UC Berkeley (and political blogger):

I was just looking through the lecturer applications. OMG. So many people who would be so good in the classroom, and who know so much, and would be such general assets to the Berkeley intellectual community. This has to be the worst year to apply for an academic job in America since... the Great Depression

And I think we are going to be offering them half-time jobs...

Of course budget cuts are especially severe at public universities but not much better at most private ones as far as I can tell. Here's hoping things pick up next year and every History department decides they have the need and the funds to hire twice as many profs as usual (and the older profs feel comfortable enough w/their investments to retire).