Job Satisfaction of Humanities Majors
- Despite differences in , the vast majority of bachelor’s degree holders in every academic field expressed satisfaction with their job, ranging from 85% among arts majors to 91% of those with a bachelor’s in engineering (Indicator III-10a). In 2023, the rate of satisfaction for undergraduate humanities majors was 87%, slightly below the rate for all bachelor’s degree holders (90%).
- Humanities majors with a terminal bachelor’s degree were as likely to be satisfied with their jobs as those who went on to earn an advanced degree (in any field), with 87% of both groups indicating they were satisfied (Indicator III-10b). For graduates in every other field, the difference between terminal bachelor’s degree holders and graduates with advanced degrees was also modest. The largest gaps, approximately four percentage points each, were found among holders of a bachelor’s degree in the life sciences and the arts. (For the rate of job satisfaction among those who received an advanced degree in the humanities, see “Job Satisfaction of Humanities Master’s Degree Recipients” and “Job Satisfaction of Humanities Ph.D. Degree Recipients.”)
- When both terminal bachelor’s degree and advanced degree holders are considered together, humanities majors’ rates of satisfaction with specific aspects of their jobs were similar to college graduates generally (Indicator III-10c). The largest difference between humanities majors and the entire baccalaureate-holding population with respect to job satisfaction was in salary. While 73% of humanities graduates expressed satisfaction with that aspect of their jobs, the share for all college graduates was 77%. (For information about terminal bachelor’s degree holders in fields other than the humanities, see the supplemental table.)
- As with bachelor’s degree holders generally, humanities degree holders differed little by race with respect to their rate of job satisfaction (Indicator III-10d).1 For white, Asian, and Black graduates, the share of humanities graduates experiencing satisfaction was statistically indistinguishable or only modestly smaller than the share of bachelor’s holders in all fields combined for each of these racial/ethnic groups. The gap for Hispanic graduates was somewhat larger, with 84% of Hispanic humanities majors expressing satisfaction compared to 89% of all Hispanic graduates.
* May hold one or more advanced degree in the humanities or another field.
Source: National Science Foundation, 2023 National Survey of College Graduates. Data analyzed and presented by the ɫӰapp’ Indicators ().
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 as holders of a baccalaureate degree. Given the relatively small 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. The categories for level of satisfaction in the survey were “very satisfied,” “somewhat satisfied,” “somewhat dissatisfied,” and “very dissatisfied.”
Source: National Science Foundation, 2023 National Survey of College Graduates. Data analyzed and presented by the ɫӰapp’ Indicators ().
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 as holders of a baccalaureate degree. Given the relatively small 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. The categories for level of satisfaction in the survey were “very satisfied,” “somewhat satisfied,” “somewhat dissatisfied,” and “very dissatisfied.”
* May also hold one or more advanced degree in the humanities or another field. For a comparison of the humanities with other academic fields, see the supplemental table.
Source: National Science Foundation, 2023 National Survey of College Graduates. Data analyzed and presented by the ɫӰapp’ Indicators ().
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 as holders of a baccalaureate degree. Given the relatively small 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. The categories for level of satisfaction in the survey were “very satisfied,” “somewhat satisfied,” “somewhat dissatisfied,” and “very dissatisfied.”
* May also hold one or more advanced degrees (in any field). The survey sample size was not large enough to produce reliable estimates for other racial/ethnic groups.
Source: National Science Foundation, 2023 National Survey of College Graduates. Data analyzed and presented by the ɫӰapp’ Indicators ().
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 as holders of a baccalaureate degree. Given the relatively small 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. The categories for level of satisfaction in the survey were “very satisfied,” “somewhat satisfied,” “somewhat dissatisfied,” and “very dissatisfied.”
