The following HTML text is provided to enhance online
readability. Many aspects of typography translate only awkwardly to HTML.
Please use the page image
as the authoritative form to ensure accuracy.
HUMANITIES DOCTORATES IN THE UNITED STATES: 1991 PROFILE
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.
Below are the first 10 and last 10 pages of uncorrected machine-read text (when available) of this chapter, followed by the top 30 algorithmically extracted key phrases from the chapter as a whole. Intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text on the opening pages of each chapter.
Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.
Do not use for reproduction, copying, pasting, or reading; exclusively for search engines.
OCR for page 7
HUMANITIES DOCTORATES IN THE UNITED STATES: 1991 PROFILE
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.
OCR for page 8
HUMANITIES DOCTORATES IN THE UNITED STATES: 1991 PROFILE
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.
OCR for page 9
HUMANITIES DOCTORATES IN THE UNITED STATES: 1991 PROFILE
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.
OCR for page 10
HUMANITIES DOCTORATES IN THE UNITED STATES: 1991 PROFILE
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
OCR for page 11
HUMANITIES DOCTORATES IN THE UNITED STATES: 1991 PROFILE
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.
OCR for page 12
HUMANITIES DOCTORATES IN THE UNITED STATES: 1991 PROFILE
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.
OCR for page 13
HUMANITIES DOCTORATES IN THE UNITED STATES: 1991 PROFILE
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.
OCR for page 14
HUMANITIES DOCTORATES IN THE UNITED STATES: 1991 PROFILE
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.
OCR for page 15
HUMANITIES DOCTORATES IN THE UNITED STATES: 1991 PROFILE
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
OCR for page 16
HUMANITIES DOCTORATES IN THE UNITED STATES: 1991 PROFILE
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.
OCR for page 17
HUMANITIES DOCTORATES IN THE UNITED STATES: 1991 PROFILE
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.
OCR for page 18
HUMANITIES DOCTORATES IN THE UNITED STATES: 1991 PROFILE
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.
OCR for page 19
HUMANITIES DOCTORATES IN THE UNITED STATES: 1991 PROFILE
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.
OCR for page 20
HUMANITIES DOCTORATES IN THE UNITED STATES: 1991 PROFILE
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.
OCR for page 21
HUMANITIES DOCTORATES IN THE UNITED STATES: 1991 PROFILE
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.
OCR for page 22
HUMANITIES DOCTORATES IN THE UNITED STATES: 1991 PROFILE
$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.
OCR for page 23
HUMANITIES DOCTORATES IN THE UNITED STATES: 1991 PROFILE
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.
OCR for page 24
HUMANITIES DOCTORATES IN THE UNITED STATES: 1991 PROFILE
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.
OCR for page 25
HUMANITIES DOCTORATES IN THE UNITED STATES: 1991 PROFILE
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).
OCR for page 26
HUMANITIES DOCTORATES IN THE UNITED STATES: 1991 PROFILE
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.
OCR for page 27
HUMANITIES DOCTORATES IN THE UNITED STATES: 1991 PROFILE
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.
OCR for page 28
HUMANITIES DOCTORATES IN THE UNITED STATES: 1991 PROFILE
This page in the original is blank.
Items in cart [0]
