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Humanities Majors Donā€™t ā€˜Catch Upā€™ to Peers, Report Says

Source
Inside Higher Ed
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The Humanities Indicators, a project of the ĒļæūŹÓʵ, has released new findings on the earnings and occupations of humanities majors.

Among the findings: older humanities majors do indeed make more than younger humanities majors. But thereā€™s no evidence that their earnings ever ā€œcatch upā€ to peers in other disciplines.

ā€œFor instance, older humanities graduates earned less than their younger counterparts relative to degree holders in the life and physical sciences, and even though the gaps narrowed relative to engineering and business majors, they still remained,ā€ the project said in a release. About 25 percent of humanities graduates were earning more than $109,000 in their ā€œpeak earning years,ā€ which are 48 to 59.

Among the other earnings data reported: in 2018, bachelorā€™s degree holders in the humanities earned a median of $58,000. That's compared to $63,000 for all bachelor's degree holders. Bachelor's degree holders in the humanities did make 66 percent more than workers with only a high school diploma.

For those with advanced degrees in the humanities, median annual earnings were $78,000, compared to $86,000 for advanced degree holders generally. About 40 percent of humanities graduates have an advanced degree.

Unemployment for humanities graduates was slightly higher than the average for college graduates, but lower than the average for those with only a high school diploma.

The report also illuminated some gender differences in earnings data. Humanities graduates in general received a 34 percent earnings boost from an advanced degree, but that increase was substantially greater for men than it was for women. Among graduates with humanities bachelorā€™s degrees, women earned 16 percent less than men. Among humanities graduates with advanced degrees, women made 22 percent less than men.

The most likely occupations for humanities graduates were in the education, management and legal fields.

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Humanities Indicators

Chairs
Norman Marshall Bradburn and Robert B. Townsend