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Can You Get A Job With A Liberal Arts Degree?

Arts and Media May 2020
In this article we answer the following questions: 1º Advantages of studying liberal arts degree 2º highest paying jobs for liberal arts degrees

Can You Get A Job With A Liberal Arts Degree?

In this article we answer the following questions: 1º Advantages of studying liberal arts degree  2º highest paying jobs for liberal arts degrees

Advantages of studying liberal arts degree

One of the most wildly misunderstood majors in higher education is that of the liberal arts.  Cover a broad range of areas, all too often people mistake it for a “catch all” major that exposes students to various skills but does not offer a solid career path.  This is a myth. 

The U.S. Department of Labor Statistics breaks down jobs with liberal arts degree on its website in the Career Outlook document, “Putting your liberal arts degree to work,” which was written by Domingo Angeles and Brian Roberts.  This document will be referenced and quoted for this article, and a link to the document itself is available at the end of this article. 

In the document, 10 charts break down different career paths connected to the liberal arts.  These charts break down the top 5 careers listed for each career path.

We are going to explore the first four of these charts.

Commercial art and graphic design degree holders

  1. Designers
  2. Artists and related workers
  3. First-line supervisors of retail sales workers
  4. Web developers
  5. Miscellaneous managers, including funeral service managers and postmasters and mail superintendents

Communications degree holders

  1. Marketing and sales managers
  2. Customer service representatives
  3. Miscellaneous managers, including funeral service managers and postmasters and mail superintendents
  4. Human resources workers
  5. Secretaries and administrative assistants

Economics degree holders

  1. Accountants and auditors
  2. Miscellaneous managers, including funeral service managers and postmasters and mail superintendents
  3. Financial managers
  4. Financial analysts
  5. Management analysts

English language and literature

  1. Elementary and middle school teachers
  2. Secretaries and administrative assistants
  3. Miscellaneous managers, including funeral service managers and postmasters and mail superintendents
  4. Secondary school teachers
  5. Marketing and sales managers

highest paying jobs for liberal arts degrees

It’s one thing to be a liberal arts major, to even understand that there are a wide variety of career options if you pursue liberal arts degree jobs, but what about salary?  Are there high paying humanities jobs?  Working from the four sample charts’ information, here are the top three highest paying areas of study from just those charts.

Economics

According to the document, “In 2015, there were 219,289 recipients of a bachelor’s degree in economics, and full-time workers under age 35 had a median annual wage of about $52,450.”

Communications

According to the document, “There were 373,736 recipients of a bachelor’s degree in communications in 2015, and full-time workers under age 35 had a median annual wage of about $41,600.”

Commercial art and graphic design

According to the document, “There were 186,503 recipients of a bachelor’s degree in this field in 2015, with a median annual wage of about $40,940 for full-time workers under age 35.”

Conclusion:

Are there liberal arts degree jobs?  Yes, absolutely.  Do they pay well?  Yes, financially sound careers are available.  To learn more and to read the entire document entitled “Putting your liberal arts degree to work” at https://www.bls.gov/careeroutlook/2017/article/pdf/liberal-arts.pdf

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