Work Activities on Which Doctoral Degree Holders in the Humanities Spend at Least 10% of Their Time, by Academic Employment Status, 2019

Work Activities on Which Doctoral Degree Holders in the Humanities Spend at Least 10% of Their Time, by Academic Employment Status, 2019

Given the substantial share of humanities PhDs employed in academia, it is not surprising that they were much more likely to engage in postsecondary teaching than other fields (as described in Occupational Distribution of Doctoral Degree Holders, by Field of Degree, 2019). However, almost half of those whose principal jobs were outside of higher education spent at least 10% of their work time teaching (though the survey does not distinguish between those who were doing it as part of their principal job or as part-time adjunct faculty).

And while one might think of the roles of academics as primarily teaching and research, more than 60% of academically employed humanities PhDs also spent some of their time doing management work, and 22% engaged in human resources activities. Research was actually much less likely to be an aspect of academic humanists’ work than it was among academically employed PhDs generally.30

Endnotes

• 30Ibid.