The Challenge of Career Diversity for Humanities PhDs

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The Humanities Indicators


The Data Graveyard


Estimated Number of Postsecondary Faculty, 1999 to 2015


Distribution of Four-Year College Faculty by Tenure Status, Fall 2012

Linguistics

Classical Studies

Folklore

History

Art History

Musicology

Philosophy

Religion

English

Lang. and Lit. other than English

Communication

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Tenured Faculty

Tenure-Track Faculty (Not Yet Tenured)

Non-Tenure-Track, Full-Time

Non-Tenure-Track, Part-time


Number of Jobs Advertised with Humanities Disciplinary Societies

2000

–01

2001

–02

2002

–03

2003

–04

2004

–05

2005

–06

2006

–07

2007

–08

2008

-09

2009

-10

2010

-11

2011

-12

2012

-13

2013

-14

2014

-150

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

1,400

1,600

1,800

2,000

English

Lang. Other than English

History

Philosophy*

Religion

Classical Studies


Occupational Distribution of Doctoral Degree Holders, 2013

Other**

Service

Sales

Office & Admin. Support

Sciences & Engineering

Management

Library & Museum

Legal

Healthcare

Education—Other

Education—Postsecondary Teaching

Education—Precollegiate Teaching

Computer

Community & Social Services

Business & Financial Operations

Arts, Design, Entertainment, & Media

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70

HumanitiesAll Fields

Share of Employed Ph.D.'sin Occupation (%)

Man

agem

ent &

Pro

fess

iona

l


Share of Doctoral Degree Holders in Postsecondary Teaching

Humanities

Arts

Behavioral & Social Sciences

Business

Education

Engineering

Health & Medical Sciences

Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

All Fields

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Percent


Share of Master’s/Professional Degree Holders in Postsecondary Teaching

Humanities

Arts


Business

Education

Engineering


Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

All Fields

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Percent


Share of Doctoral Degree Holders in Science and Engineering

Humanities

Arts


Business

Education

Engineering


Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

All Fields

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Percent


Share of Doctoral Degree Holders in Management and Other Education Positions

Humanities

Arts


Business

Education

Engineering


Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

All Fields

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Education—Other

Management

Percent


Two Distributions from the Humanities—Majors and PhDs

Other**

Service

Sales

Office & Admin. Support

Sciences & Engineering

Management

Library & Museum

Legal

Healthcare

Education—Other

Education—Postsecondary Teaching

Education—Precollegiate Teaching

Computer

Community & Social Services

Business & Financial Operations

Arts, Design, Entertainment, & Media

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70

Humanities Majors with a PhD in any Field

Humanities PhDs with Undergraduate Degree in Any Field

Share of All Employed PhDsin Occupation (%)

Man

agem

ent &

Pro

fess

iona

l

Humanities Indicators, 2016 · American Academy of Arts & Sciences


Median Annual Earnings of Full-Time Workers with a Doctoral Degree, by Field, 2013

Engine

ering

Physic

al Scie

nces

Busine

ss

Behav

ioral

& Soc

ial S

cienc

es

All Fiel

ds

Educa

tion

Health

& M

edica

l Scie

nces

**

Life S

cienc

es

Human

ities

0

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000

140,000

160,000

Dol

lars


Median Annual Earnings of Full-Time Workers with a Doctoral Degree, by Field and Gender, 2013

Engine

ering

Physic

al Scie

nces

Busine

ss

Behav

ioral

& Soc

ial S

cienc

es

All Fiel

ds

Educa

tion

Health

& M

edica

l Scie

nces

**

Life S

cienc

es

Human

ities

0

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000

140,000

160,000

Men Women

Dol

lars


Median Annual Earnings of Full-Time Workers with a Doctoral Degree, by Field and Gender, 2013

Humanities

Health & Medical Sciences**

Life Sciences

Education

All Fields

Behavioral Sciences

Business

Physical Sciences

Engineering

0 25,000 50,000 75,000 100,000 125,000 150,000 175,000 200,000 225,000 250,000

Median

75th Percentile

#REF!

Annual Earnings (Thousands of Dollars)

Humanities

All Fields

The broken black line indicates the median earnings of humani-ties Ph.D.'s.


Debt Accumulated in Graduate Studies by New PhDs

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 20140

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

Education


Humanities

All Fields

Life Sciences

Engineering

Physical Sciences

Cons

tant

201

4 Do

llars

Humanities Indicators, 2016 · American Academy of Arts & Sci-ences


Primary Funding Source for Doctoral Studies, 2014 Cohort

Humanities Behavioral & Social Sciences

Education Engineering Life Sciences Physical Sciences

All Fields0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Teaching Assist-antships

Grants (including Fel-lowships)

Own Resources

Research Assist-antships/ Trainee-ships

Employer

Field

Perc

ent (

of P

h.D.

's R

epor

ting

a Pr

imar

y So

urce

of S

uppo

rt)

Humanities Indicators, 2016 · American Academy of Arts & Sci-ences


Next Questions• The connection between occupation and salary

• Parsing two- and four-year college employment

• Contingent faculty

• Levels of job satisfaction in particular sectors

• Age cohorts (25 to 34, 35 to 44, 55 to 64, 65 to 74)

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Visit us at www.HumanitiesIndicators.org

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