Colleges and universities in the United States continue to graduate Ph.D.s in record numbers. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education (2017), for example, 356 tenure-track assistant professor positions we're available in English literature in 2016. That year, US universities awarded 1,261 doctorates in English literature. Currently, 52% of college and university professors hold part-time adjunct positions. What are the projections for the future?
If you think globally, the new PhD/job ratio might look better. This is just a thought, since I haven't looked at the statistics. In the field of English literature --like the teaching of English as a second language--, coming from a cultural context where English is the majority language, and being a native speaker, might give PhD holders from the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, and other predominantly English-speaking countries a competitive advantage. Another relevant variable is demographics: in what nations or regions are there a lot of young people nearing college age?
One way or another it will be increasingly digital in terms of tools & environment. The robots are definitely coming! The question is of course routinely posed by numerous stakeholders whether they're universities, school boards, industry associations, etc. Strategic Plans are all about apprasing what lies ahead & how to make the most of it. Lots of 'big picture' publications & journals also tackle this (e.g., The Horizon Reports & Innovating Pedagogy - links below)
https://iet.open.ac.uk/file/innovating-pedagogy-2017.pdf
https://www.nmc.org/nmc-horizon/
https://telrp.springeropen.com/pdlf
University World News is also usually a good source for commentary on trends & change in higher ed.
http://www.universityworldnews.com/
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