In an interview yesterday with the department chair, I was told that PhD applications were down this year. He blamed the economy. He said this is a good thing for applicants though... less competition for the same funding. Of course, this was one program at one school. He said he was able to admit 2 of 6 applicants to his sub-field... only 6 applicants is apparently quite low for them. The lack of jobs post-graduation in humanities he believed is leading to less applications to humanities PhDs.