From: Susan Adams, Forbes Staff, 22/1/2014
Majoring in the humanities seems like a bad idea these days. Employers
don’t want to hire you, we hear, and when they do, they pay poorly (I’ve
written three stories saying as much in the last two weeks). But a new study
out today gives hope to liberal arts graduates. ...But at least humanities graduates hold
their own.
From: Allie Grasgreen, 22/1/2014
Employers consistently say they want to hire people who have a broad
knowledge base and can work together to solve problems, debate,
communicate and think critically, the report notes – all skills that
liberal arts programs aggressively, and perhaps uniquely, strive to
teach.
From: Dispatches from Drury's Humanities Division
One fact about the Humanities that is well acknowledged is that
studying it leads to personal satisfaction...Does this personal satisfaction come at a practical cost? Some will
have you believe that students interested in the Humanities must
choose between personal
or economic satisfaction. Thankfully, the data does not support this re a recent study commissioned by the
Academy of the Arts and Sciences (AAS) collected data on available jobs.
From: Dispatches from Drury's Humanities Division
In addition to discussion about unemployment rates, it is important
for people to have a good idea of the salary implications of majoring in
the Humanities. Now, remember, here we are talking about
only majoring in
the Humanities. Double majoring in a Humanities field and in a
non-Humanities field combines the power of the skill sets for both
sides. Here, however, we focus just on single majors.
Humanities majors do well! On
average they do make less than their non-Humanities counterparts, but not much less. In fact, particular Humanities fields, such as
philosophy, history, and
marketing, earn more at
mid-career than the non-Humanities average. Additionally,
philosophy majors (along
with physics majors) see the largest start to mid-career salary boost –
a whopping 104.5% increase over that period re the latest Georgetown study