State of the Humanities 2022: From Graduate Education to the Workforce
Number of Postsecondary Teachers, by Subject Taught, 2000–2020
Number of Postsecondary Teachers, by Subject Taught, 2000–2020
![Figure-22_Postsec-Teachers.png Figure-22_Postsec-Teachers.png](/sites/default/files/styles/article_image_1x/public/Figure-22_Postsec-Teachers.png.webp?itok=lVLS031P)
After increasing steadily from 2000 to 2013, the number of humanities postsecondary faculty (working either full- or part-time) plateaued and then declined in virtually every subsequent year, bringing the total to 169,330 in 2020. While virtually every academic field experienced a reduction in the number of faculty from 2015 to 2020, the 12% drop observed in the humanities was the most pronounced. The only major academic field to experience an increase in faculty over this time span was health sciences, with a faculty that increased by 11%. Despite the recent decline, the number of humanities faculty employed in 2020 was still markedly higher (by 39%) than in 2000.26
Endnotes
- 26U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.