How can new candidates for a Ph.D. tell whether a job in teaching or research will be waiting for them when they finally get their doctorates? How can colleges and universities plan now for adequate and efficient academic staffing in the 1980's? This document attempts to improve academic manpower forecasts and forecasting methods that reduce time-lags evident in present systems, to project future faculty needs, and to explore likely supply responses to changing conditions. Chapters discuss: (1) the general problems of projecting academic demand; (2) the manpower outlook for persons trained at the doctoral level in the 1950's and 1960's and why the past record of projecting academic labor market conditions has been poor; (3 to 5) recent trends and projected coefficients; (6 to 7) what this outlook is likely to mean for the market for new teachers; (8) faculty flows; (9) data on the first job placement of new Ph.D.'s since 1967; and (10) findings and policy options facing higher education in the last quarter of this century. (Author)