Tightening of federal support for US science is creating a mixed employment outlook for academic researchers, says the author of Holding the Fort: Nonprofit Employment during a Decade of Turmoil. The report, released on 18 January, found that employment in the US non-profit sector grew by an average of 2.1% each year from 2000 to 2010, despite the recession; growth in education alone was 2.6%. Although universities and health care saw some of the biggest job increases, a slowdown in federal funding is placing a strain on academic research, suggests Lester Salamon, a policy expert at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, and lead author of the report. Salamon predicts a shift to private sources of research funding, including industry.