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State of the Humanities 2021: Workforce & Beyond

Share and Number of College Graduates in Various Occupations Who Hold a Bachelor’s Degree in the Humanities, 2018

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Humanities Indicators

Share and Number of College Graduates in Various Occupations20 Who Hold a Bachelor’s Degree in the Humanities, 2018

While humanities graduates can be found in every broad occupation category, they account for a widely varying share of the college graduates employed in each, ranging from more than a third of the bachelor's degree holders in library/museum jobs to less than 5% of those in engineering/sciences positions. In addition to the sizable share of baccalaueate-holding library/museum workers they represented, humanities majors accounted for more than 20% of the college graduates in both legal and arts/media jobs.

Given the disparities in the size of each occupation, however, the largest number of employees with a bachelor’s degree in the humanities, over 1.1 million, was found in the education category. Over 900,000 humanities graduates were employed in management positions. Substantial numbers were also employed in administrative support/office, business/financial, and sales occupations (with more than 600,000 humanities graduates in each of these categories).21

Endnotes

  • 20 Currently employed workers only.
  • 212018 American Community Survey PUMS.