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Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile (1994)

Chapter: EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES

« Previous: THE DOCTORAL POPULATION IN THE HUMANITIES
Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×

2

EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES

Employment Status

Of the 100,300 humanities doctorates, 77.7 percent were employed full-time and 8.4 percent were employed part-time3 in September 1991. Less than 1 percent of humanities doctorates were on postdoctoral appointments (including both full-time and part-time appointments). Those not employed made up 13.4 percent of the population; the majority of this group was retired.

Table 3 presents the 1991 employment status by field of doctorate. American history doctorates had the highest rate of full-time employment, 88.5 percent. Art history and music had the highest percentages of doctorates employed part-time, 12.8 and 11.9 percent, respectively. Percentages of those retired were highest among “other history” and speech/theater doctorates. As noted earlier, these two fields also had the highest proportion of doctorates in the 50-75 age bracket.

Labor Force Status

For the purposes of this analysis, the labor force consists of those either employed, on postdoctoral appointments,4 or unemployed but seeking employment. By excluding retirees and those not employed and not seeking employment, it is possible to calculate the employment and unemployment rates for the labor force.

The labor force of humanities doctorates was estimated at 88,300 in 1991. Of this group, 88.7 percent were employed full-time, 9.6 percent were employed part-time, and 1.7 percent were unemployed but seeking employment (see Table 4). The majority of those employed part-time were not seeking full-time employment.

By field, the overall employment rates (total of those employed full-and part-time) were high and varied by less than two percentage points (from 97.6 percent in music to 99.4 percent in classical languages and literature). Part-time employment rates did show variation by field, however, from a high of 14.3 percent in art history to a low of 5.0 percent in American history.

3  

Retired individuals working part-time were classified as employed part-time.

4  

Because of the small numbers of humanities doctorates on postdoctoral appointments, this group was subsumed under the categories “employed full-time” or “employed part-time” in Table 4 and in subsequent tables in this report.

Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×

TABLE 3 Employment Status of Humanities Ph.D.s, by Field of Doctorate, 1991 (in percent)

Employment Status

All Fields

Amer Hist

“Other Hist”

Art Hist

Music

Speech/Theater

Phil

Engl/Amer Lang/Lit

Class Lang/Lit

Modern Lang/Lit

“Other Hum”

Total Population (No.)

100,300

6,300

15,500

3,100

8,700

5,400

7,500

25,900

2,100

16,400

9,500

Employed Full-Time

77.7

88.5

73.8

74.2

75.1

71.3

82.3

78.2

83.5

75.8

81.3

Employed Part-Time

8.4

4.6

7.7

12.8

11.9

8.7

7.5

7.7

7.2

9.2

9.0

Postdoctoral Appointment

0.4

0.1

0.4

1.7

0.3

0.0

0.0

0.3

0.1

0.3

1.2

Not Employed*

13.4

6.6

17.9

11.3

12.7

20.0

10.1

13.8

8.5

14.6

8.5

Seeking Employment

1.5

1.3

1.8

1.5

2.2

1.6

0.7

0.9

0.5

2.3

1.4

Not Seeking Employment

1.8

2.5

2.0

2.3

2.3

2.4

1.2

1.8

0.8

1.5

0.9

Retired

9.3

2.8

13.5

5.6

7.5

14.7

8.0

10.5

7.2

9.5

4.6

Other

0.8

0.0

0.5

2.0

0.7

1.3

0.2

0.6

0.0

1.3

1.7

No Report

0.1

0.1

0.2

0.0

0.1

0.0

0.2

0.0

0.6

0.0

0.0

NOTE: Numbers are rounded to the nearest hundred; therefore, subcategories may not add to total.

*Percentages are not unemployment rates because they are based on the total population, which includes those retired, those not seeking employment, and those not reporting status; none of these is considered part of the labor force in this report. Unemployment rates are shown in Table 4.

Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×

TABLE 4 Employment and Unemployment of Humanities Ph.D. s in the United States Labor Force, by Gender and Field of Doctorate, 1991 (in percent)

Gender Employment Status

All Fields

Amer Hist

“Other Hist”

Art Hist

Music

Speech/Theater

Phil

Engl/ Amer Lang/ Lit

Class Lang/ Lit

Modern Lang/ Lit

“Other Hum”

Total

1991 Ph.D. Labor Force* (No.)

88,300

5,900

13,000

2,800

7,800

4,400

6,800

22,600

1,900

14,400

8,800

Employed Full-Time

88.7

93.6

88.7

84.1

84.0

87.4

90.9

90.1

91.5

86.8

88.9

Employed Part-Time

9.6

5.0

9.1

14.3

13.6

10.6

8.3

8.8

7.9

10.6

9.7

Seeking Full-Time

3.2

2.8

3.3

4.0

5.1

3.2

2.3

2.6

0.6

3.7

3.5

Not Seeking Full-Time

5.9

2.2

5.8

9.8

7.5

6.8

5.4

5.8

7.0

6.2

5.7

Unemployed/Seeking

1.7

1.4

2.2

1.6

2.4

2.0

0.8

1.1

0.6

2.6

1.5

Male (No.)

59,200

4,700

10,500

1,200

5,900

3,300

5,600

13,800

1,300

7,600

5,300

Employed Full-Time

92.4

95.6

90.3

92.7

89.7

88.6

92.4

94.5

94.5

91.8

94.7

Employed Part-Time

6.2

3.8

7.3

5.5

8.3

9.3

7.2

5.2

5.4

6.3

4.1

Seeking Full-Time

2.0

2.6

1.9

3.6

2.6

2.9

2.5

1.3

0.9

1.6

2.0

Not Seeking Full-Time

3.9

1.2

5.4

1.9

4.7

6.0

4.5

3.4

4.4

4.1

1.7

Unemployed/Seeking

1.3

0.6

2.4

1.7

2.0

2.1

0.4

0.3

0.2

1.9

1.2

Female (No)

29,100

1,200

2,500

1,600

1,900

1,100

1,200

8,800

600

6,700

3,500

Employed Full-Time

81.0

86.3

82.0

77.9

66.3

83.5

84.1

83.2

84.4

81.1

79.9

Employed Part-Time

16.5

9.4

16.8

20.5

30.1

14.8

13.4

14.5

14.0

15.5

18.2

Seeking Full Time

5.7

3.4

9.0

4.3

12.7

4.2

1.3

4.6

0.0

6.0

5.7

Not Seeking Full-Time

10.0

6.1

7.2

15.5

16.1

9.5

9.9

9.4

13.1

8.5

11.9

Unemployed/Seeking

2.5

4.2

1.2

1.5

3.6

1.6

2.6

2.3

1.6

3.4

1.9

NOTE: Numbers are rounded to the nearest hundred; therefore, subcategories may not add to total.

*Includes those employed full-time or part-time, postdoctoral appointees, and those seeking employment.

†Includes those who did not report whether they were seeking full-time employment.

Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×
Labor Force Status by Gender

When the labor force is shown by gender, differences in employment and unemployment rates emerge. As shown in Table 4, the unemployment rate for female humanities doctorates was 2.5 percent, compared with 1.3 percent for males. Within field, the highest unemployment rates were for women with American history doctorates (4.2 percent), music doctorates (3.6 percent), and modern languages and literature doctorates (3.4 percent); for men the unemployment rate was below 2.5 percent in every field.

The part-time employment rate was also higher for females, 16.5 percent compared with 6.2 percent for males. Among both males and females, the majority of those employed part-time were not seeking full-time employment. The reasons for choosing part-time employment were similar for both males and females; the reason selected most frequently was “prefer part-time” (59.0 percent of both groups), followed by “full-time not available” (24.3 percent of males and 23.6 percent of females).

Geographic Differences in Labor Force Status

By geographic region (Table 5), the unemployment rate ranged from a low of 0.2 percent in the Mountain region (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming) to a high of 2.5 percent in the Middle Atlantic region (New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania). The Pacific region (Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington) had the highest part-time employment rate, 14.9 percent, compared to 9.6 percent for humanities doctorates in all regions of the country. The East North Central region (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin) had the highest full-time employment rate (92.7 percent).

Field Mobility

In this report, the percentage of employed individuals with degrees in a particular field who were also working in that field is called the “retention rate” of the field. In 1991, 56.2 percent of the employed population were working in the same area in which they earned their doctorate. By field, the retention rates ranged from highs of 79.0 percent in art history and 77.7 percent in music to a low of 30.4 percent in the composite field “other humanities” (see Table 6). A review of the specific fields included in “other humanities” (see footnote 1 in the Introduction) showed wide variation in the retention rates of the individual fields, but all were below 40 percent.

The majority of humanities doctorates who were not employed in their field of doctorate were employed in a nonhumanities discipline. This group of field switchers constituted 26.2 percent of all employed humanities doctorates; Figure 2 shows their distribution by employment specialty. Education was the field attracting the most humanities doctorates (over 4,700), followed by social sciences (just over 3,000), and

Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×

TABLE 5 Labor Force Status of Humanities Ph.D.s in the United States, by Region, 1991 (in percent)

1991 Location (Region)

Total Ph.D. Labor Force* (No.)

Employed Full-time

Employed Part-time

Unemployed & Seeking Employment

All Regions

88,300

88.7

9.6

1.7

New England

9,200

87.1

10.9

2.1

Middle Atlantic

16,900

86.4

11.1

2.5

East North Central

12,800

92.7

5.8

1.4

West North Central

6,700

91.2

7.4

1.4

South Atlantic

16,200

91.1

7.4

1.5

East South Central

3,700

89.8

9.1

1.1

West South Central

6,900

88.9

9.3

1.7

Mountain

4,000

88.7

11.0

0.2

Pacific

11,500

83.6

14.9

1.5

NOTE: States in each region are as follows: New England (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont); Middle Atlantic (New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania); East North Central (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin); West North Central (Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, South Dakota); South Atlantic (Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia); East South Central (Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee); West South Central (Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas); Mountain (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming); and Pacific (Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington).

*Includes those employed full-time or part-time, postdoctoral appointees, and those seeking employment.

†Includes those located in U.S. territories.

Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×

TABLE 6 Field Retention and Mobility of Employed Humanities Doctorates, 1991 (in percent)

1991 Field of Employment

Total Employed*

Amer Hist

“Other Hist”

Art Hist

Music

Speech/Theater

Phil

Engl/ Amer Lang/ Lit

Class Lang/ Lit

Modern Lang/ Lit

“Other Hum”

All Fields (No.)

86,800

5,900

12,700

2,700

7,600

4,300

6,700

22,300

1,900

14,000

8,700

American History

6.8

57.5

17.4

1.9

0.1

0.0

0.0

0.2

1.7

0.1

2.5

“Other History”

7.7

5.7

46.1

2.0

0.4

0.8

0.9

0.1

3.1

0.9

1.3

Art History

2.8

0.5

0.5

79.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.1

1.0

0.1

1.8

Music

7.0

0.5

0.0

0.0

77.7

0.2

0.0

0.1

0.0

0.2

0.4

Speech/Theater

2.5

0.0

0.0

0.9

0.0

47.4

0.0

0.3

0.0

0.4

0.1

Philosophy

5.0

0.0

0.3

0.0

0.0

0.0

61.9

0.0

2.6

0.1

1.3

English and Amer Lang/Lit

17.1

0.0

0.4

1.2

0.4

4.4

0.5

58.2

4.1

3.4

11.4

Classical Lang/Lit

1.3

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.5

51.8

0.1

0.8

Modern Lang/Lit

11.7

0.0

1.2

0.0

0.2

0.0

0.4

1.9

4.1

62.5

8.1

“Other Humanities”

9.0

3.1

3.5

2.9

2.8

4.3

4.4

10.8

6.1

8.7

30.4

Nonhumanities

26.2

31.3

28.2

10.3

15.8

40.6

29.8

24.4

22.0

20.2

39.3

No Report

2.8

1.3

2.6

1.8

2.6

2.3

2.1

3.4

3.6

3.4

2.6

*Includes those employed full-time or part-time and postdoctoral appointees.

Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×

business management (approximately 2,300). Fields with the highest proportions working in nonhumanities were speech/theater (40.6 percent), “other humanities” (39.3 percent), philosophy (29.8 percent), and “other history” (28.2 percent).

There was little mobility among humanities fields. Only the field of classical languages and literature had more doctorates switching to other humanities specialties than were working in a nonhumanities discipline.

Figure 2. Distribution of humanities Ph.D.s employed in nonhumanities fields, 1991.

Employment Sector

In 1991, 77.5 percent of employed humanities doctorates were working in educational institutions, primarily 4-year colleges and universities (see Table 7). Business/industry accounted for 11.8 percent of those employed (approximately one-half of whom were self-employed), followed by nonprofit organizations (5.7 percent). The remainder were employed by government (federal, state, and local) and all other types of employers.

Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×

TABLE 7 Type of Employer of Humanities Ph.D.s, by Field of Doctorate, 1991 (in percent)

Type of Employer

Total Employed

Amer Hist

“Other Hist”

Art Hist

Music

Speech/Theater

Phil

Engl/ Amer Lang/ Lit

Class Lang/ Lit

Modern Lang/ Lit

“Other Hum”

Employed Population* (No.)

86,800

5,900

12,700

2,700

7,600

4,300

6,700

22,300

1,900

14,000

8,700

Educational Institution

77.5

71.4

77.6

74.2

74.6

76.3

77.9

81.7

84.5

78.8

71.3

4-Year Coll/Univ/Med Sch

68.3

59.4

66.3

72.2

64.6

70.6

72.2

71.5

74.5

69.6

63.1

2-Year College

5.6

6.4

8.1

0.8

5.3

4.5

3.2

7.1

0.0

4.5

4.3

Elem/Secondary Schools

3.7

5.6

3.1

1.2

4.6

1.2

2.5

3.1

9.9

4.7

4.0

Business/Industry

11.8

7.9

10.0

9.1

12.4

15.6

13.2

11.6

7.9

13.0

13.7

Self-Employed

5.7

2.2

4.5

6.1

6.3

11.6

4.9

5.1

3.4

6.1

8.1

Not Self-Employed

6.1

5.7

5.5

3.0

6.1

4.1

8.3

6.5

4.4

6.8

5.6

U.S. Government

2.3

6.0

5.0

1.3

0.5

0.0

1.5

1.4

1.2

2.2

2.2

State/Local Government

1.7

2.7

1.1

1.8

1.0

2.9

1.1

1.6

0.3

1.6

2.8

Nonprofit Organization

5.7

11.5

5.3

13.7

9.7

4.0

5.5

2.8

5.3

3.4

8.8

No Report

0.8

0.5

0.7

0.0

1.4

1.1

0.4

0.7

0.9

1.0

0.7

NOTE: Percentages for those reporting “other” types of employers are not included in this table; therefore, totals may not add to 100 percent.

*Includes those employed full-time or part-time and postdoctoral appointees.

Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×

By field, more than 70 percent of the doctorates in every specialty were working in an educational institution. Doctorates in “other history” and English and American languages and literature were more likely than other Ph.D.s to be employed in 2-year colleges (8.1 and 7.1 percent, respectively) and doctorates in classical languages and literature were more likely than other Ph.D.s to work in elementary/secondary schools (9.9 percent). There was also variation by field in the proportions employed in other sectors: 11.6 percent of speech/theater doctorates were self-employed (compared with 5.7 percent of humanities doctorates overall), and 13.7 and 11.5 percent respectively of art history and American history doctorates: were employed by nonprofit organizations--nearly twice the rate for all humanities doctorates.

Years Since Award of Doctorate

Table 8 shows the employment sector distribution by years since award of doctorate. The groups shown are 5 or fewer years since award of doctorate (newest group), 6 to 15 years since award of doctorate (middle group), and 16 to 35 years since award of doctorate (oldest group). These groups were chosen because they represent doctorates at three different stages of their careers and were grouped to allow large enough numbers for analysis. The residual group (those who earned their degrees more than 35 years prior to 1991) are not shown in the table because of their small numbers and because most of them were not employed.

As shown in Figure 3, humanities doctorates who earned their degrees within the 5 years prior to 1991 had the highest proportion employed by educational institutions (82.5 percent); followed by those with 16 to 35 years since degree award (80.0 percent). Those with 6 to 15 years since degree award had the lowest proportion (72.4 percent) employed by educational institutions. More of the middle group were employed by business/industry (14.7 percent) than of the other two groups (8.2 percent of the newest doctorates and 10.5 percent of the oldest doctorates).

Primary Work Activity

Teaching was the primary work activity of the majority of humanities doctorates in 1991 (60.4 percent), corresponding to the high proportion employed by educational institutions. Another 13.1 percent were engaged primarily in management and administration; 5.6 percent were writing or editing; and 5.1 percent were involved primarily in research and development (see Table 9). While teaching was the primary work activity of the majority of doctorates in each field, there were variations by field in the proportions reporting other major activities. A higher-than-average proportion of American history doctorates was primarily engaged in management and administration (21.0 percent). Between 10 and 11 percent of the doctorates in art history, philosophy, and “other humanities” were engaged primarily in research and development, compared with 5.1 percent in the population overall; approximately 9 percent of music Ph.D.s

Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×

TABLE 8 Type of Employer of Humanities Ph.D.s, by Years Since Award of Doctorate, 1991 (in percent)

Type of Employer

Total

5 or fewer years

6-15 years

16-35 years

Employed Population* (No.)

86,800

14,700

32,400

38,300

Educational Institution

77.5

82.5

72.4

80.0

4-Year Coll/Univ/Med Sch

68.3

73.8

61.5

71.8

2-Year College

5.6

5.3

6.4

5.0

Elementary/Secondary Schools

3.7

3.3

4.5

3.2

Business/Industry

11.8

8.2

14.7

10.5

U.S. Government

2.3

1.9

2.9

1.9

State/Local Government

1.7

0.9

2.1

1.7

Nonprofit Organization

5.7

5.9

7.1

4.7

No Report

0.8

0.5

0.6

1.0

NOTE: Those with more than 35 years since doctorate are not shown because of their small numbers; therefore, subcategories may not add to total. Percentages for those reporting “other” types of employers are also not shown; therefore, totals may not add to 100 percent.

*Includes those employed full-time or part-time and postdoctoral appointees.

†Includes those self-employed.

Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×

Figure 3. Employment sector of humanities doctorates, by years since doctorate, 1991.

reported performing arts as their primary pursuit, compared with 1.0 percent overall; and between 8 and 9 percent of doctorates in American history and English and American languages and literature were primarily writing and editing, compared with 5.6 percent overall.

Years Since Award of Doctorate

Table 10 presents the primary work activities of humanities doctorates by years since degree award. Teaching was the primary activity of a higher proportion of doctorates from the newest group (69.6 percent) than from either the middle or the oldest groups (57.0 and 59.5 percent, respectively). As noted, humanists in the newest group were also most likely to be working in an educational institution. On the other hand, doctorates from the middle and oldest group were about twice as likely to have reported management and administration as their primary activity.

Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×

TABLE 9 Primary Work Activity of Humanities Ph.D.s, by Field of Doctorate, 1991 (in percent)

Primary Work Activity

All Fields

Amer Hist

“Other Hist”

Art Hist

Music

Speech/Theater

Phil

Engl/ Amer Lang/ Lit

Class Lang/ Lit

Modern Lang/ Lit

“Other Hum”

Employed Population* (No.)

86,800

5,900

12,700

2,700

7,600

4,300

6,700

22,300

1,900

14,000

8,700

Teaching

60.4

50.4

58.0

59.3

64.1

60.8

60.1

61.9

68.6

65.2

54.1

Management/Administration

13.1

21.0

13.5

12.6

11.7

16.7

8.8

13.3

7.8

11.2

13.3

Mgmt of Education Programs

8.4

12.5

8.6

5.9

7.8

13.0

4.3

10.0

4.7

7.4

6.3

Mgmt of Other Programs

4.6

8.4

5.0

6.7

3.9

3.8

4.5

3.4

3.2

3.8

7.0

Research & Development

5.1

5.4

6.1

10.6

0.7

2.8

10.2

2.7

3.4

4.6

10.6

Writing/Editing

5.6

8.8

5.9

5.0

1.4

3.1

5.0

8.3

7.8

4.6

3.0

Performing Arts

1.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

9.3

2.6

0.0

0.1

0.0

0.1

0.2

Consulting/Prof Services

4.5

4.1

5.1

1.5

1.5

7.1

6.9

4.3

2.5

3.9

6.6

Other Activities

7.4

7.3

8.3

6.3

8.2

5.2

6.4

6.4

8.9

7.1

10.4

No Report

2.8

3.1

3.1

4.6

3.1

1.6

2.6

2.9

0.9

3.4

1.8

*Includes those employed full-time or part-time and postdoctoral appointees.

Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×

TABLE 10 Primary Work Activity of Humanities Ph.D.s, by Years Since Award of Doctorate, 1991 (in percent)

Primary Work Activity

Total

5 or fewer years

6-15 years

16-35 years

Employed Population* (No.)

86,800

14,700

32,400

38,300

Teaching

60.4

69.6

57.0

59.5

Management/Administration

13.1

7.1

13.7

14.9

Mgmt of Education Programs

8.4

3.8

8.3

10.3

Mgmt of Other Programs

4.6

3.3

5.4

4.6

Research & Development

5.1

7.9

5.1

4.2

Writing/Editing

5.6

4.8

6.3

5.4

Performing Arts

1.0

1.7

1.3

0.5

Consulting/Prof Services

4.5

2.1

4.7

5.3

Other Activities

7.4

5.4

9.7

6.2

No Report

2.8

1.5

2.1

4.0

NOTE: Those with more than 35 years since doctorate are not shown because of their small numbers; therefore, subcategories may not add to total.

*Includes those employed full-time or part-time and postdoctoral appointees.

Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×

Median Annual Salaries by Field, Gender, and Years Since Award of Doctorate

In 1991, the median annual salary of all humanities doctorates was $48,200 (see Table 11). Doctorates in American history, “other history,” and speech/theater all had median salaries over $50,000; the lowest median salary was that of doctorates in music, $42,700. By years since award of doctorate, the salary range across fields was fairly low for the newest group ($35,000 to $38,500); the differences across fields were considerably more for both the middle and the oldest groups.

On average and in each field, women earned less than men (see Figure 4). The median salary for male humanities doctorates was $50,200, and for females it was

Figure 4. Median annual salaries of humanities Ph.D.s employed full-time, by field of doctorate and gender, 1991.

Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×

TABLE 11 Median Annual Salaries of Full-Time Employed Humanities Ph.D.s, by Gender, Years Since Award of Ph.D.,and Field of Doctorate, 1991 (in thousands of dollars)

Gender and Years Since Ph.D.

All Fields

Amer Hist

“Other Hist”

Art Hist

Music

Speech/Theater

Phil

Engl/ Amer Lang/ Lit

Class Lang/ Lit

Modern Lang/ Lit

“Other Hum”

Total

$48.2

$51.1

$51.6

$46.0

$42.7

$53.0

$49.3

$47.6

$45.1

$47.0

$46.7

5 or Fewer

36.4

36.7

36.8

36.7

36.3

38.3

36.2

35.0

36.8

36.6

38.5

6-15

45.3

48.8

42.9

42.8

42.3

40.8

48.9

45.6

40.2

45.3

48.2

16-35

56.3

59.8

58.6

58.3

57.0

62.4

55.4

54.5

55.7

55.1

54.5

Male, Total

50.2

51.8

52.5

53.0

44.0

56.5

50.6

48.8

45.8

50.4

48.3

5 or Fewer

36.5

 

36.6

37.3

36.5

39.9

36.0

35.5

 

36.8

39.2

6-15

45.6

48.1

42.3

 

43.0

45.9

50.2

46.5

 

45.5

48.5

16-35

57.6

60.0

58.9

 

57.6

63.3

58.5

55.3

 

57.3

53.9

Female, Total

43.8

50.5

45.8

40.7

40.0

40.8

45.5

44.3

42.3

42.8

44.3

5 or Fewer

36.3

 

39.0

36.4

 

36.5

36.7

34.8

 

36.4

37.5

6-15

44.7

 

45.1

41.5

     

44.9

 

44.8

47.2

16-35

51.2

 

50.9

       

52.0

 

48.6

 

NOTE: Median salaries were computed only for Ph.D.s employed full-time, excluding those in the U.S. military. Academic salaries were multiplied by 11/9 to adjust for a full-time scale. Medians were not provided for cells with fewer than 40 cases reporting salary.

Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×

$43,800. The difference in median salaries of men and women was smallest in American history ($1,300) and greatest in speech/theater ($15,700). By gender and years since award of doctorate, median salaries were nearly equal for men and women humanities doctorates from the newest group; median salaries of men and women exhibited the largest difference ($6,400) in the oldest group. For the middle group, the spread was $900.

Median Annual Salaries by Employment Sector and Gender

Table 12 displays median salaries of humanities doctorates by employment sector and gender. Doctorates employed in business/industry earned the highest median salary ($50,700), and those in nonprofit organizations the lowest ($42,900).

A review of median salaries by gender and sector shows that earnings of men and women were nearly equal for those employed in elementary/secondary schools and in government, but that men outearned women in all other types of organizations.

TABLE 12 Median Annual Salaries of Full-Time Employed Humanities Ph.D.s, by Gender and Type of Employer, 1991 (in thousands of dollars)

Type of Employer

Total

Male

Female

Employed Population

$48.2

$50.2

$43.8

Educational Institution

48.2

50.4

43.3

4-Year Coll/Univ/Med School

48.3

50.7

42.8

2-Year College

47.8

48.3

45.6

Elementary/Secondary Schools

46.6

46.7

46.4

Business/Industry

50.7

53.5

50.0

U.S. Government

47.5

47.4

47.8

Nonprofit Organization

42.9

44.7

39.7

NOTE: Median salaries were computed only for Ph.D.s employed full-time, excluding those in the U.S. military. Academic salaries were multiplied by 11/9 to adjust for a full-time scale.

Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×

Government Support Status

About 15.1 percent of humanities doctorates reported being engaged in work supported or sponsored by the federal government in the year preceding the survey. Table 13 shows the distribution by field: about 23 percent of those in American history and art history received support, compared with 11.5 percent and 12.1 percent in philosophy and modern languages and literature, respectively.

Of those receiving support, the largest portion came from the National Endowment for the Humanities (35.3 percent), followed by the National Endowment for the Arts (10.4 percent), the Department of Defense (12.4 percent), and the Department of Education (14.7 percent). About 37.5 percent were supported by other agencies (see Figure 5).

Figure 5. Government support of humanities doctorates, by federal agency, 1991.

Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×

TABLE 13 Government Support Status of Employed Humanities Ph.D.s, by Field of Doctorate, 1991 (in percent)

Government Support Status

All Fields

Amer Hist

“Other Hist”

Art Hist

Music

Speech/Theater

Phil

Engl/ Amer Lang/ Lit

Class Lang/ Lit

Modern Lang/ Lit

“Other Hum”

Total Employed* (No.)

86,800

5,900

12,700

2,700

7,600

4,300

6,700

22,300

1,900

14,000

8,700

Received Government Support

15.1

23.1

19.4

23.3

12.8

12.2

11.5

12.9

13.8

12.1

17.5

No Government Support

79.3

72.1

76.5

71.0

79.9

80.5

81.8

82.7

83.4

80.7

76.0

Support Status Not Known

1.7

2.4

1.1

2.4

2.7

1.9

1.6

1.2

0.4

1.9

2.5

No Report

3.9

2.4

3.0

3.3

4.5

5.5

5.1

3.3

2.4

5.3

4.1

*Includes those employed full-time or part-time and postdoctoral appointees.

Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×

Job Satisfaction

Respondents were asked to rate their satisfaction with their principal job on the following scale: very high, high, average, low, or very low. (For the purposes of this analysis, the responses “high” and “very high ” were combined, as were “low” and “very low.” See Table 14.) Differences across field were evident, ranging from 77.7 percent in American history reporting high or very high satisfaction to 66.2 percent in modern languages and literature. By gender, males were more likely to be satisfied with their jobs (72.4 percent high/very high) than females (68.4 percent high/very high). Overall, about 20.2 percent of humanities doctorates reported their job satisfaction as average, while 8.7 percent reported it as low or very low.

Type of Employer and Years Since Award of Doctorate

The type of employer also appeared to influence job satisfaction (see Table 15). Those employed in nonprofit organizations were the most satisfied (78.1 percent high/very high) followed by educational institutions (71.2 percent), business/industry (69.3 percent), and government (65.3 percent). By years since award of doctorate, the oldest group was somewhat more satisfied (72.9 percent) than either the middle group (69.3 percent) or newest group (68.1 percent).

Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×

TABLE 14 Job Satisfaction of Employed Humanities Ph.D.s, by Field of Doctorate and Gender, 1991 (in percent)

   

Job Satisfaction

Field of Doctorate and Gender

Total*

High/Very high

Average

Low/Very low

Total

81,500

71.1

20.2

8.7

Field of Doctorate

American History

5,800

77.7

16.8

5.5

Other History

12,200

73.6

19.0

7.4

Art History

2,600

71.0

19.3

9.7

Music

7,400

71.1

20.4

8.5

Speech/Theater

4,200

72.9

15.6

11.5

Philosophy

6,500

69.4

20.8

9.8

English and Amer Lang/Lit

21,800

71.0

20.2

8.7

Classical Lang/Lit

1,800

74.6

17.1

8.4

Modern Lang/Lit

13,400

66.2

24.6

9.2

Other Humanities

5,700

70.8

19.3

9.9

Gender

Male

55,500

72.4

19.5

8.1

Female

26,000

68.4

21.6

10.0

*Totals in this table are equal to the number answering the job satisfaction question, not the total sample, and may therefore disagree with totals shown elsewhere in this report.

Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×

TABLE 15 Job Satisfaction of Employed Humanities Ph.D.s, by Type of Employer and Years Since Award of Doctorate, 1991 (in percent)

   

Job Satisfaction

Type of Employer and Years Since Doctorate

Total*

High/Very high

Average

Low/Very low

Total

81,500

71.1

20.2

8.7

Type of Employer

Educational Institution

64,100

71.2

20.6

8.2

4-Year Coll/Univ/Med Sch

56,500

72.0

19.7

8.2

2-Year College

4,600

62.5

28.9

8.6

Elem/Secondary Schools

3,000

68.4

24.6

7.1

Business/Industry

9,000

69.3

19.7

11.0

Government

3,200

65.3

17.9

16.8

Nonprofit Organization

4,800

78.1

15.9

6.0

Years Since Doctorate

5 or Fewer

13,800

68.1

20.6

11.2

6-15

30,400

69.3

21.1

9.5

16-35

36,100

72.9

19.8

7.3

*Totals in this table are equal to the number answering the job satisfaction question, not the total sample, and may therefore disagree with totals shown elsewhere in this report.

Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×
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Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×
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Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×
Page 8
Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×
Page 9
Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×
Page 10
Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×
Page 11
Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×
Page 12
Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×
Page 13
Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×
Page 14
Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×
Page 15
Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×
Page 16
Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×
Page 17
Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×
Page 18
Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×
Page 19
Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×
Page 20
Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×
Page 21
Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×
Page 22
Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×
Page 23
Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×
Page 24
Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×
Page 25
Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×
Page 26
Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×
Page 27
Suggested Citation:"EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN THE HUMANITIES." National Research Council. 1994. Humanities Doctorates in the United States: 1991 Profile. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9118.
×
Page 28
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