Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1995 Profile (1997)

This chapter examines changes in the employment situation of humanities doctorates, including changes in status, employer, and occupation. Under examination here are those humanities doctorates employed in April 1995. Of these, four-fifths (81 percent) were employed in 1993 and did not change either employer or occupation in the interim. Seven percent changed both employer and occupation, while 4 percent changed employer only and another 4 percent changed occupation only. Four percent reported that they were not employed in April 1993; it should be noted that approximately 40 percent of this category consisted of those still working on their Ph.D. requirements at that time (see Table 28).

• Doctorates in "other humanities" (18 percent), followed by music and modern languages doctorates (15 percent), were most likely to have made any type of employer and/or occupational change, while philosophers were least likely to have made a change (11 percent).

Figure 12.

Changes in employment of humanities Ph.D.s, from 1993 to 1995.

• Art historians, musicians, and "other humanities" doctorates were more likely than average to have changed both employer and occupation (between 8 and 9 percent). Philosophers were least likely to have changed both employer and occupation (4 percent).
• Across fields, changes in occupation ranged from 9 percent (philosophy) to between 12 and 14 percent (art history and "other humanities"). (Occupation changes include those doctorates who changed both occupation and employer and those who changed occupation only.)
• Changes in employer ranged from 6 percent (philosophy) to between 12 and 13 percent (music and "other humanities"). (Employer changes include those doctorates who changed both employer and occupation and those who changed employer only.)
• Art historians were most likely to have gone from not being employed in 1993 to working in 1995 (9 percent), while classicists were least likely (2 percent) to have made this change.
• The reason cited most frequently by humanists for changing occupation or employer was pay and promotion opportunities (53 percent). Music, "other humanities," and English doctorates were slightly more likely than those in other fields to give this reason (about 56 percent), whereas Ph.D.s in history were least likely (47 percent). The second most popular reason was working conditions (33 percent overall), and the third was job location (24 percent) (see Table 29).