Indicator

Occupations of Master’s Degree Recipients in the Humanities

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Over the past 15 years, the purpose of the humanities master’s degree has been a subject of interest for the field’s disciplinary societies. In 2011, a Modern Language Association committee noted “a gap between students’ aspirations and employment outcomes on the one hand and M.A. programs’ stated goals and curricular requirements on the other.”2 To provide empirical grounding for a discussion of the role of the degree—a conversation taking place as the field’s share of all master’s degrees completed has reached a historic low—the Humanities Indicators examined the occupational distribution of terminal master’s degree holders in the humanities (i.e., individuals whose highest degree is a master’s in a humanities discipline) and how it compares to that of degree holders in other fields.

Findings and Trends
Findings and Trends
  • In 2019, 28% of recently employed holders of a terminal humanities master’s degree (employed full- or part-time at any point in the previous five years) worked in teaching positions (both postsecondary and precollegiate)—a larger share than the 22% from all fields combined but substantially smaller than the 64% of education graduates who were employed as teachers (an additional 3% of humanities master’s degree holders worked in nonteaching positions in education; Indicator III-21a). The difference between humanities graduates and master’s degree holders in general was particularly great when it came to postsecondary teaching, as 14% of humanities graduates were employed in the sector, compared to less than 4% of master’s recipients from all fields combined.
  • Outside of teaching, the largest share of recently employed humanities master’s degree recipients was found in management positions (16%). The next largest share was employed in arts and media occupations (11%). Among master’s degree holders in general, workers were most likely to be employed in precollegiate teaching (18%) or in management (17%).
  • The occupational distribution of recently employed master’s degree recipients in the humanities differed somewhat by gender in 2019 (Indicator III-21b). Women were more likely than men to hold an arts/entertainment/media job (13% of women versus 8% of men) or an office/administrative support position (7% versus 1%). Men were more likely than women to hold a job in sales (10% of men versus 3% of women), computers (8% versus 1%), or management (20% versus 14%). (A comparison by race/ethnicity was not possible, due to the small number of humanities master’s degree recipients in the National Survey of College Graduates sample and the disproportionately small share of humanities master’s degrees earned by members of some traditionally minoritized racial/ethnic groups.)
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Data Source and Other Information

* Employed full- or part-time at any point in the previous five years.
** See the provided crosswalk for information regarding the occupations included in this category.
† Excludes holders of the J.D. and other professional degrees.

Source: National Science Foundation, 2019 National Survey of College Graduates. Data analyzed and presented by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ Humanities Indicators (www.humanitiesindicators.org)

About the Data

This indicator is based on data collected as part of the National Science Foundation’s National Survey of College Graduates (NSCG). Conducted every two years, the NSCG gathers detailed education, occupation, and earnings information from a sample of individuals drawn from the larger pool of all those identified via the American Community Survey (ACS) as holders of a baccalaureate degree. The foundation makes NSCG data available to researchers and the general public via downloadable data files and its online data analysis tool, SESTAT. Given the size of the NSCG sample, reliable estimates are available only for broad academic fields.

For the NSCG disciplinary categories included in each of the field-of-degree categories employed by the Humanities Indicators, see the provided crosswalk, which also indicates the types of jobs that are included in each of the broad occupational categories used for this analysis. These occupation-related indicators are based on NSCG data, but similar items included in the Humanities Indicators rely on data from the American Community Survey (ACS).

Due to marked differences in how the NSCG and ACS classify academic fields and occupations, the contents of the field-of-degree and occupational categories used for this indicator are not identical to those used for the ACS-based indicators III-03a, 03b, and 05b. (For more information on the contents of the categories used for the ACS analysis, see the pertinent crosswalk.)

An even more important difference between these indicators and the ACS-based occupation-related indicators is that the master’s degree recipients considered here are those whose master’s degree was in the humanities (irrespective of the field of their undergraduate degree). The ACS does not collect data about the fields in which advanced degrees were earned. The ACS-based indicators thus describe the occupational distribution of undergraduate humanities majors who went on to pursue an advanced degree, regardless of the field of that degree.

Related Indicators

See “Earnings of Humanities Master’s Degree Recipients,” which also draws on the National Survey of College Graduates.

Occupation and earnings information for bachelor’s degree recipients can be found under the topics “Occupations of Humanities Majors with a Terminal Bachelor’s Degree” and “Earnings of Humanities Majors with a Terminal Bachelor's Degree.” (Please note that these indicators, and the one relating to unemployment [see below], are based on data from another source, the American Community Survey, which differs from the National Survey of College Graduates in several key ways. Please see “About the Data” for further explanation.)

For a comparison of unemployment among humanities majors and majors in other fields, see “The Employment Status of Humanities Majors.”

For information on humanities Ph.D.’s, see “Occupations of Humanities Ph.D.’s,” “Earnings of Humanities Ph.D.’s,” and “Job Status of Humanities Ph.D.’s at Time of Graduation.”

For trends concerning the number and type of master’s degrees conferred over the past several decades, see “Advanced Degrees in the Humanities” and “Disciplinary Distribution of Advanced Degrees in the Humanities.”

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Data Source and Other Information

* Employed full- or part-time at any point in the previous five years. Men and women are the only two gender categories employed by the National Survey of College Graduates, the source of the data for this indicator.
** See the provided crosswalk for information regarding the occupations included in this category.

Source: National Science Foundation, 2019 National Survey of College Graduates. Data analyzed and presented by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ Humanities Indicators (www.humanitiesindicators.org).

About the Data

This indicator is based on data collected as part of the National Science Foundation’s National Survey of College Graduates (NSCG). Conducted every two years, the NSCG gathers detailed education, occupation, and earnings information from a sample of individuals drawn from the larger pool of all those identified via the American Community Survey (ACS) as holders of a baccalaureate degree. The foundation makes NSCG data available to researchers and the general public via downloadable data files and its online data analysis tool, SESTAT. Given the size of the NSCG sample, reliable estimates are available only for broad academic fields.

For the NSCG disciplinary categories included in each of the field-of-degree categories employed by the Humanities Indicators, see the provided crosswalk, which also indicates the types of jobs that are included in each of the broad occupational categories used for this analysis. These occupation-related indicators are based on NSCG data, but similar items included in the Humanities Indicators rely on data from the American Community Survey (ACS).

Due to marked differences in how the NSCG and ACS classify academic fields and occupations, the contents of the field-of-degree and occupational categories used for this indicator are not identical to those used for the ACS-based indicators III-03a, 03b, and 05b. (For more information on the contents of the categories used for the ACS analysis, see the pertinent crosswalk.)

An even more important difference between these indicators and the ACS-based occupation-related indicators is that the master’s degree recipients considered here are those whose master’s degree was in the humanities (irrespective of the field of their undergraduate degree). The ACS does not collect data about the fields in which advanced degrees were earned. The ACS-based indicators thus describe the occupational distribution of undergraduate humanities majors who went on to pursue an advanced degree, regardless of the field of that degree.

 

Related Indicators

See “Earnings of Humanities Master’s Degree Recipients,” which also draws on the National Survey of College Graduates.

Occupation and earnings information for bachelor’s degree recipients can be found under the topics “Occupations of Humanities Majors with a Terminal Bachelor’s Degree” and “Earnings of Humanities Majors with a Terminal Bachelor's Degree.” (Please note that these indicators, and the one relating to unemployment [see below], are based on data from another source, the American Community Survey, which differs from the National Survey of College Graduates in several key ways. Please see “About the Data” for further explanation.)

For a comparison of unemployment among humanities majors and majors in other fields, see “The Employment Status of Humanities Majors.”

For information on humanities Ph.D.’s, see “Occupations of Humanities Ph.D.’s,” “Earnings of Humanities Ph.D.’s,” and “Job Status of Humanities Ph.D.’s at Time of Graduation.”

For trends concerning the number and type of master’s degrees conferred over the past several decades, see “Advanced Degrees in the Humanities” and “Disciplinary Distribution of Advanced Degrees in the Humanities.”

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The Humanities Indicators and Departmental Survey have been made possible in part by grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this website do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Endnotes

  • 1Association of Departments of English Ad Hoc Committee on the Master’s Degree, Rethinking the Master’s Degree in English for a New Century (New York: Modern Language Association, 2011), https://www.mla.org/content/download/25406/1164106/2011adhocrpt.pdf, accessed 9/20/2022. See also Philip M. Katz, Retrieving the Master’s Degree from the Dustbin of History (Washington, DC: American Historical Association, 2006), https://www.historians.org/about-aha-and-membership/aha-history-and-archives/historical-archives/retrieving-the-masters-degree-from-the-dustbin-of-history, accessed 9/20/2022.