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The Career Paths of Modern Language PhDs: Findings from the 2017 MLA Survey of Doctoral Program Graduates

MLA Office of ResearchWeb publication, August 2018

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AS COMPETITION has increased for what has been a chronically limited supply of tenure- track faculty job opportunities, the call for doctoral programs to track the employment outcomes of their graduates has intensified—and revealed the in-adequacies of the data-collection infrastructure for developing information about humanities graduates’ careers. In 2012 the MLA and the American Historical Asso-ciation (AHA), with the support of grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, embarked on parallel initiatives to discover the current occupations of PhD recipi-ents who completed their programs since 1995—the last year humanities graduates were canvassed for the federal government’s Survey of Doctorate Recipients (SDR).1 The AHA and MLA studies used Internet searches to find public information about the current employment of a random sample of graduates; the MLA’s sample in-cluded 2,590 graduates who received their doctorates between 1996 and 2011. A report on the MLA’s research appeared as “Where Are They Now,” a February 2015 post on The Trend, the Commons blog of the MLA office of research (Laurence). The AHA’s report, “The Many Careers of History PhDs,” was published in spring 2013. In 2018 the AHA published “Where Historians Work,” an online interactive data set that expands its initial research to catalog the career outcomes of 8,515 historians who earned PhDs at universities in the United States between 2004 and 2013 (see “Career Diversity Resources” for both AHA projects).

In July 2017, the MLA’s office of research reached out to the 1,949 individuals in the original sample for whom we had found e-mail addresses and invited them to complete a survey about their employment since they received the doctorate. The survey received responses from 310 (15.4%) of these doctorate recipients. The respon-dents completed their doctoral studies between 1996 and 2010, with the exception of one graduate from outside our initial sample who received the degree in 2015.

Table 1 shows the distribution of the 311 respondents, grouped into four roughly equal- size cohorts, according to the years when respondents received the PhD. To gain at least some insight into the effect of the 2008 financial crisis, the 2006–15 co-hort is subdivided into pre- and post-2008 segments. Because responses were anony-mous, survey respondents cannot be tied to the individual Dissertation Abstracts International (DAI) records that were the source for our original sample. Thus, the fifteen respondents who did not provide the year they received the degree in their survey responses are listed as missing.

The information the 311 respondents provided is illuminating. At the same time, the small number of respondents reminds us how enormously far tracking efforts have to go before the profession can claim to have anything approaching a compre-hensive picture of the occupations and employment histories of the tens of thousands

© 2018 by the Modern Language Association of America




of living individuals who hold doctoral degrees in English and other modern lan-guages. What our 311 respondents have provided is a set of suggestive illustrations that should spur the further research needed to gather information that will confirm or correct the findings presented here.

Job Placement and Career Paths to 2017

Because responses to the MLA’s 2017 survey were anonymous, it is not possible to map the characteristics of the 2017 response group in relation to the DAI records of the 2013 sample; nevertheless, the occupational distribution suggests greater congru-ity than incongruity between the two groups, as can be seen in figure 1 and figure 2. Of the 311 respondents to the 2017 survey, 79.2% report that they are employed in a postsecondary institution (fig. 1), compared with 77.1% of the 2,198 living gradu-ates from the 2013 study (fig. 2). The percentage of graduates working outside higher education is similar between the groups: 20.9% of respondents to the 2017 survey and 21.6% of the graduates identified in 2013. And an expected movement of indi-viduals from tenure-track to tenured faculty status is evident in the increased frac-tion in 2017 of faculty members with tenure and the reduced share in tenure-track appointments (possibly including some who in 2013 were classified as occupying positions whose tenure status we were not able to determine).

Of most interest, however, may be what the 2017 survey respondents had to say about the turns their careers took between receipt of the degree and their current po-sitions. Asked about the first job they held after receipt of the degree, 35.5% reported their first position as a full-time, tenure-track faculty position; 42.9% started in a non- tenure- track faculty position, 28.7% full-time and 14.2% part-time; 6.5% held a postdoctoral fellowship; and 15.2% found placements other than as postsecondary faculty members (fig. 3).

How much movement is there from non-tenure-track to tenured faculty positions or back and forth across the boundary separating nonfaculty occupations in or out-side higher education from tenured faculty posts or other teaching or administra-tive positions in higher education? Table 2 shows 2017 respondents’ first job after receiving the PhD and the job they held at the time of the survey. Of the 163 re-spondents who reported holding a tenured faculty position in 2017, 84, or 27.0% of all respondents, had been hired directly from graduate school to a full-time, tenure-track faculty position. Forty-five, or 14.5%, went from graduate school to a full-time non- tenure- track position; 13, or 4.2%, took part-time, non-tenure track faculty positions; and 13 (4.2%) proceeded to postdoctoral fellowships. Two respondents who went directly from graduate school to positions in higher education adminis-tration were tenured faculty members in 2017; five who started their postgraduate careers outside higher education had returned to the academy and become tenured faculty members at the time of the survey. That is, of the 163 respondents employed as tenured faculty members in 2017, just over half (51.5%) secured a full-time, tenure- track faculty position as their first job after graduate school; 27.6% started in a full- time, non-tenure-track position; 8.0% began in a part-time, non-tenure-track position; 8.0% started in a postdoctoral fellowship; 1.2% had a professional or



administrative position in a postsecondary institution; and 3.1% went from graduate school to work outside higher education (fig. 4).

A little under half (46.8%) of the 62 respondents working outside higher educa-tion in 2017—and 9.3% of all 311 respondents—took a postsecondary faculty posi-tion, whether tenure-track or non-tenure-track, as their first job after completing graduate school. When those who went from graduate school to a postdoctoral fel-lowship or nonfaculty administrative position in higher education are included, the percentage of graduates working outside higher education in 2017 who started in a job in postsecondary education directly from graduate school increases to 12.2% of all 311 respondents and 61.3% of the 62 employed outside higher education in 2017.

Looking back across the arc of their careers to 2017, 67.8% of the survey’s 311 respondents reported that they had held a tenure-track faculty position at some point (fig. 5). Included in that 67.8% are 22.7% of those currently employed as non- tenure- track faculty members and 21.0% of those working outside postsecondary education. (Included also are respondents employed as tenured or tenure-track fac-ulty members in 2017.)

The portion of the survey’s 311 respondents employed as tenured faculty mem-bers in 2017—and who entered tenure-track faculty positions as their first job after leaving graduate school—varied considerably by cohort. The variations suggest how the economic conditions and employment opportunities prevailing at the time each cohort graduated may have affected each cohort’s initial job placement as well as its longer term career paths and possibilities (fig. 6 and fig. 7).

More than a third (35.5%) of survey respondents secured a tenure-track faculty po-sition as their first job after graduate school. But breaking respondents out into chron-ological cohorts reveals widely disparate experiences, from 31.6% of the 1996–98 cohort, rising to 45.2% of the 2006–08 cohort, then abruptly collapsing to just over a quarter (26.1%) of the post-2008 group (fig. 6). Suggestive as these findings may be, the subgroups are small, forming a weak basis for generalization or conclusions.

The differences in current (2017) employment for each cohort, shown in figure 7, dwarf the variations in the initial job placements shown in figure 6. Only 35.5% of 1996–98 graduates reported holding a tenured faculty position in 2017, compared with 69.1% of the cohort that completed graduate school between 1999 and 2001. The disparity holds even when respondents in senior administrative positions who have faculty status, and presumably hold tenure, are added to the tenured faculty. The economic conditions into which a cohort graduates appear to have significant consequence for graduates’ longer-term employment outcomes. The cohorts coinci-dent with the upturn in the number of jobs posted in the MLA Job Information List (JIL) after 1998 had a markedly higher percentage of its members in tenured faculty positions in 2017 than did the cohort that graduated in the mid-1990s trough in jobs advertised in the JIL (Report 7 [fig. 1]). The impact of the 2008 financial crisis and its aftermath seems evident in the sharply lower percentage of the 2009–15 cohort in tenured faculty positions in 2017, although conclusions must be tenta-tive in the light of the small size of the subgroup. At the same time, taken together, figures 6 and 7 suggest how the tenured faculty is made up of individuals who move from graduate school into tenure- track and non-tenure-track faculty positions,



postdoctoral fellowships, and (to a lesser extent) nonfaculty employment in and even outside higher education.

The movement from various first jobs to a tenured faculty post in 2017 is shown in figure 8, which pulls out the portion of each cohort that held a tenured faculty posi-tion in 2017 and breaks it into segments according to graduates’ first job placement after receiving their doctorates. The segments within each column show the percent-age of all graduates in a cohort that held various types of jobs as their first job; the segment percentages sum to the percentage value shown at the top of each column—that is, the percentage of all graduates in a cohort that held a tenured position in 2017.

The percentage of respondents who had held a tenure-track faculty position at any point in their career up to 2017 also varied significantly by cohort, from a high of 81.0% of the graduates who received their doctorates immediately before the recession (2006–08) to a low of 39.1% for those who received their degree after it (2009–15) (fig. 9).

Job Satisfaction and Earnings

Respondents employed in and outside postsecondary education report nearly equiva-lent levels of overall job satisfaction—76.3% of 245 respondents employed in post-secondary education said they were either satisfied or very satisfied with their jobs, compared with 76.2% of the 63 employed outside postsecondary education; fig. 10). A higher percentage of those employed outside than inside postsecondary education were very satisfied with their jobs—44.4% of those working outside postsecond-ary education compared with 34.7% of those employed inside. However, a slightly higher percentage of those employed outside postsecondary education also said they were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with their positions—11.1% compared with 7.3%. Of respondents very satisfied with their jobs, the highest percentage was work-ing in nonprofit organizations (57.9%, or 19 respondents; 100.0% of respondents working for the federal government were very satisfied with their jobs, but there were only two of them). The highest percentages of respondents very dissatisfied with their positions were those working for state or local government (22.2%, or 9 respondents) and faculty members in tenure-track faculty positions (16.7%, or 12 respondents).

Respondents’ job satisfaction also varied by cohort. The group that graduated after 2008 has, so far, a far lower percentage of its members satisfied or very satisfied with the job they held in 2017—52.2%, compared with 79.3% of the aggregate of those in the four other cohorts (fig. 11). Respondents in the 2009–15 cohort were also more than twice as likely as those in the other cohorts to report dissatisfaction with the job they held in 2017—17.4% compared with 7.0%. Those in the 2002–05 cohort reported the highest level of job satisfaction: 83.8% were satisfied or very satisfied with the job they held in 2017. Overall, job satisfaction was high: across the entire group of 308 that answered this question, more than three-quarters (76.3%) said they were satisfied or very satisfied with the job they held in 2017; less than a tenth (8.1%) said they were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied.

Asked about earnings, 50.5% of the 299 respondents who answered this question reported earning annual individual income between $65,000 and $99,999; 25.1%



earned $64,999 or less, and 24.4% earned $100,000 or more (fig. 12). Higher per-centages of respondents employed outside postsecondary education reported annual incomes at the highest and lowest salary ranges than did respondents employed in postsecondary education—21.7% of respondents working outside postsecondary education compared with 7.5% of respondents working in postsecondary institutions reported annual individual income of $125,000 or above, and 11.7% of respondents employed outside postsecondary education compared with 4.6% of those employed in postsecondary education reported earning under $40,000 (fig. 13).

Figure 14 and figure 15 show detailed income-level distributions for respondents employed in and outside postsecondary education, by type of faculty and nonfaculty postsecondary position (fig. 14) or sector of employment outside postsecondary edu-cation (fig. 15). The number of cases is small for many categories, and caution should be exercised in reviewing these detailed breakdowns. Despite the limitations of small numbers, it is interesting to note the comparatively high percentage of respondents working in nonprofit organizations and for-profit businesses who report individual incomes above $100,000. The highest concentration of PhDs working outside aca-demia with earnings below $40,000 is, no surprise, among the self-employed, and the highest concentration of well-paid academics is senior administrators: 90.9% of respondents in that employment category reported earnings of $80,000 or more, and 45.5% reported earnings of $125,000 and above.

Nearly all the tenured faculty members among respondents (95.1%) regard the doctorate as advantageous for their careers (fig. 16), as did most tenure-track faculty members (91.7%). Then there is a distinct drop: only 65.9% of those in non-tenure-track faculty positions say the doctorate has been advantageous or very advanta-geous for their careers. More unexpected, perhaps, may be how high a percentage of respondents working outside higher education said the doctorate has been advanta-geous for their careers—69.4%—and that only 9.7% said it has been disadvanta-geous or very disadvantageous.

Respondents in the most recent cohort take a view of their doctorate that is very different from that of those in previous cohorts (fig. 17). Across the four cohorts from 1996–98 to 2006–08, 86.8% of respondents said their doctorate has been advanta-geous or very advantageous to their careers and career success; across the aggregate of those four cohorts, only 1.8% said the degree has been disadvantageous or very dis-advantageous. Of respondents in the 2009–15 cohort, a sharply lower 60.9% said the doctorate has been advantageous or very advantageous to their careers, and a sharply higher 21.7% said the degree has been disadvantageous or very disadvantageous.

Part-time teaching has been the primary job and chief source of income for 39.0% of all respondents at some point in their careers (fig. 18) and for 34.9% of the subset employed as tenured or tenure-track faculty members in 2017 (fig. 19).

Almost a quarter (23.8%) of survey respondents said they had experienced periods of unemployment since receiving the doctorate—6.8% for twelve months or more, counting time cumulatively (fig. 20).

David Laurence



Note

1. From 1977 to 1995, a sample of humanities doctorates were canvassed as part of the SDR, a biennial survey conducted by the National Science Foundation that gathers information about the occupations and career movement of a longitudinal sample of science and engineering doctorates from the year they receive their degrees to age seventy-five. The last profile of humanities doctorate recipients, based on the data collected from the 1995 SDR, was published by the National Research Council in 1997. The MLA has conducted periodic surveys of doctoral student placement since the mid-1970s, but those studies sought information about graduates’ employment placements within a year or two of receiving their degrees.

Works Cited

“Career Diversity Resources.” American Historical Association, 2018, www.historians.org/jobs-and-professional -development/ career-diversity-for-historians/career-diversity-resources.

Laurence, David. “Where Are They Now? Occupations of 1996–2011 PhD Recipients in 2013.” Humanities Com-mons, Modern Language Association, Feb. 2015, mlaresearch.mla.hcommons.org/2015/02/17/where-are -they -now -occupations-of-1996-2011-phd-recipients-in-2013-2/.

Report on the MLA Job Information List, 2016–17. Modern Language Association, Dec. 2017, www.mla.org/content/download/ 78816/2172744/Report-MLA-JIL-2016-17.pdf.



Table 1 Respondents to the 2017 MLA Survey, by Year Doctorate Was Received

Number Percentage

1996–98 76 24.42002–05 74 23.81999–2001 81 26.02006–15 2006–08 42 13.5 2009–15 23 7.4Missing (year not given) 15 4.8

Total 311 100.0



Table 2 Respondents’ Current (2017) Employment and First Job after Completing the PhDCurrent Position (in 2017) First Job after Completing the PhD Number

Percentage of Category

Percentage of All Responses

Faculty, tenured 163 100.0 52.4 Postsecondary faculty, tenure-track, full-time 84 51.5 27.0 Postsecondary faculty, non-tenure-track, full-time 45 27.6 14.5 Postsecondary faculty, non-tenure-track, part-time 13 8.0 4.2 Postdoctoral fellowship 13 8.0 4.2 Professional or administrative position in a postsecondary institution 2 1.2 0.6 Business, government, or nonprofit organization 3 1.8 1.0 Secondary school teaching 1 0.6 0.3 Self-employed or freelance work 1 0.6 0.3 Missing (did not answer this item) 1 0.6 0.3 Faculty, on the tenure track 12 100.0 3.9 Postsecondary faculty, tenure-track, full-time 5 41.7 1.6 Postsecondary faculty, non-tenure-track, full-time 3 25.0 1.0 Postsecondary faculty, non-tenure-track, part-time 3 25.0 1.0 Secondary school teaching, full-time 1 8.3 0.3 Faculty, not tenured, not on the tenure track 44 100.0 14.1 Postsecondary faculty, tenure-track, full-time 6 13.6 1.9 Postsecondary faculty, non-tenure-track, full-time 19 43.2 6.1 Postsecondary faculty, non-tenure-track, part-time 14 31.8 4.5 Postdoctoral fellowship 1 2.3 0.3 Business, government, or nonprofit organization 1 2.3 0.3 Secondary school teaching, full-time 2 4.5 0.6 Self-employed or freelance work 1 2.3 0.3 Senior administrator (provost, dean) with faculty status 12 100.0 3.9 Postsecondary faculty, tenure-track, full-time 5 41.7 1.6 Postsecondary faculty, non-tenure-track, full-time 4 33.3 1.3 Postsecondary faculty, non-tenure-track, part-time 1 8.3 0.3 Professional or administrative position in a postsecondary institution, full-time 2 16.7 0.6 Administrative or professional staff, not faculty 15 100.0 4.8 Postsecondary faculty, tenure-track, full-time 1 6.7 0.3 Postsecondary faculty, non-tenure-track, full-time 4 26.7 1.3 Postsecondary faculty, non-tenure-track, part-time 6 40.0 1.9 Professional or administrative position in a postsecondary institution, full-time 3 20.0 1.0 Self-employed or freelance work 1 6.7 0.3 Employed outside higher education 62 100.0 19.9 Postsecondary faculty, tenure-track, full-time 8 12.9 2.6 Postsecondary faculty, non-tenure-track, full-time 14 22.6 4.5 Postsecondary faculty, non-tenure-track, part-time 7 11.3 2.3 Postdoctoral fellowship 6 9.7 1.9 Professional or administrative position in a postsecondary institution, full-time 3 4.8 1.0 Business, government, or nonprofit organization 13 21.0 4.2 Secondary school teaching, full-time 7 11.3 2.3 Self-employed or freelance work 3 4.8 1.0 Further schooling 1 1.6 0.3 Retired 3 100.0 1.0 Postsecondary faculty, tenure-track, full-time 1 33.3 0.3 Business, government, or nonprofit organization 1 33.3 0.3 Secondary school teaching, full-time 1 33.3 0.3 Total 311 100.0

Current Position (in 2017)



Fig. 1 Occupations of Modern Language PhDs in 2017

Source: 2017 MLA follow-up survey of modern language PhDs (n = 311)

Fig. 1. Occupations of Modern Language PhDs in 2017

Source: 2017 MLA follow‐up survey of modern language PhDs (n = 311)

Faculty, tenured, 52.4%

Faculty, tenure‐track, 3.9%

Faculty, non‐tenure‐track, full‐time, 11.6%

Faculty, non‐tenure‐track, part‐time, 2.6%

Senior administrator with faculty status, 3.9%

Nonfaculty, higher education professional, 4.8%

K–12 education, 3.5%

Business, government, or nonprofit organization, 13.8%

Self‐employed or freelance, 2.6%

Retired, 1.0%

Fig. 2 Occupations of Modern Language PhDs in 2013

Source: 2013 MLA study of modern language PhDs (n = 2,198 graduates)

Fig. 2. Occupations of Modern Language PhDs in 2013

Source: 2013 MLA study of modern language PhDs (n = 2,198 graduates)


Faculty, tenure‐track, 14.2%

Faculty, non‐tenure‐track or tenure status not specified, 20.4%

Postdoctoral fellowship, 0.3%

Senior administrator (dean, provost, president), 2.2%

Nonfaculty, higher education professional, 6.0%

K–12 education, 3.2%


Business owner, clinician, writer, artist, self‐employed, independent scholar, 10.8%

Not employed, in labor force, 0.0% (1 graduate)

Retired or emeritus/a, 1.1%


Faculty, tenure-track, 14.2%



Fig. 3 First Job Placement after Receipt of Doctorate


Faculty position in postsecondary institution, tenure‐track, full‐time, 35.5%

Faculty position in postsecondary institution, non‐tenure‐track faculty, full‐time, 28.7%

Faculty position in postsecondary institution, non‐tenure‐track, part‐time, 14.2%


Professional or administrative position in postsecondary institution, 3.2%


Teaching position in secondary school, 3.9%

Self‐employed or freelance work, 1.9%

Further schooling, 0.3%

Fig. 4 First Job after Completing the PhD for Those Who Held a Tenured Faculty Position in 2017


Fig. 4. First Job after Completing the PhD for Those Who Held a Tenured Faculty Position in 2017


Postsecondary faculty, tenure‐track, 51.5%

Postsecondary faculty, non‐tenure‐track, full‐time, 27.6%

Postsecondary faculty, non‐tenure‐track, part‐time, 8.0%


Professional or adminstrative position in a postsecondary institution, 1.2%

Outside higher education, 3.1%

Did not answer (1 respondent), 0.6%



Fig. 5 Percentage of Respondents Who Held a Tenure-Track Faculty Position at Any Point since Receipt of the Doctorate


Fig. 5. Percentage of Respondents Who Held a Tenure‐Track Faculty Position at Any Point since Receipt of the Doctorate


Held a tenure‐track post in a four‐year institution, 59.8%

Held a tenure‐track post in a two‐year institution, 5.1%

Held a tenure‐track post in both a four‐ and a two‐year institution, 2.9%

Never held a tenure‐track faculty position, 32.2%


31.6% 38.8%

35.1%

45.2%

26.1%

35.5%

27.6%

31.3%

29.7%

28.6%

26.1%

28.7%

19.7%

7.5%

8.1%

19.0%

21.7%

14.2%

3.9%

7.5%

8.1%

2.4%

8.7% 6.5%

5.3%

1.3%

4.1%

2.4%

4.3% 3.2%

10.5%

13.8%

14.9%

2.4%

13.0%

11.6%

1.3%

0.3%

0%10%

20%30%

40%50%

60%70%

80%90%

100%

1996–98 (n = 76)

1999–2001 (n = 80)

2002–05 (n = 74)

2006–08 (n = 42)

2009–15 (n = 23)

All years (n = 310)

Faculty, tenure‐track

Faculty, non‐tenure‐track, full‐time

Faculty, non‐tenure‐track, part‐time

Postdoctoral fellowship

Administrator or professional staff

Employed outside higher education

Further schooling

Fig. 6 First Job after Com

pleting the PhD, by Year PhD Was Received




35.5%

69.1%

54.1%

57.1%

34.8%

52.1%

1.3%

5.4%

14.3%

4.3%

3.9%

18.4%

4.9%

13.5%

16.7%

30.4%

14.1%

15.8%

6.2%

6.8%

7.1%

4.3%

8.7%

28.9%

19.8%

20.3%

4.8%

26.1%

21.2%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

1996–98(n = 76)

1999–2001 (n = 81)

2002–05 (n = 74)

2006–08 (n = 42)

2009–15 (n = 23)

All years(n = 311)

Faculty, tenured

Faculty, tenure‐track

Faculty, not on the tenure track

Administrator or professional staff

Employed outside higher education

Fig. 7 Current (2017) Employment, by Year Doctorate Was Received



Fig. 8 Distribution of Respondents Who Held a Tenured Faculty Position in 2017, by First Job Placement after Completing the PhD and Year PhD Was Received

Note: Seven respondents who did not give the year they received their degrees are included only in the count for all years.

15.8%

35.8%27.0%

33.3%26.1% 27.0%

9.2%

19.8%

16.2%

14.3%

4.3%

14.1%

5.3%

3.7%

2.7%

7.1%

4.2%

2.6%

4.9%

5.4%

4.3%

4.2%

1.3%

1.4%0.6%

1.3%

3.7%

1.4%1.6%

1.2%

0.3%

35.5%

69.1%

54.1% 54.8%

34.8%

52.1%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

1996–98N = 27

1999–2001N = 56

2002–05N = 40

2006–08N = 24

2009–15N = 8

All YearsN = 162

Faculty, tenure‐track Faculty, non‐tenure‐track, full‐timeFaculty, non‐tenure‐track, part‐time Postdoctoral fellowshipProfessional or adminstrative position in higher education Outside higher educationFirst job not provided



Fig. 9 Percentage of Respondents Who Held a Tenure-Track Faculty Position at Any Point since Receipt of the PhD, by Year PhD Was Received

60.0%

61.8%

74.1%

70.3%

81.0%

39.1%

67.8%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%

Graduation year unknown (n = 15)

1996–98 (n = 76)

1999–2001 (n = 81)

2002–05 (n = 74)

2006–08 (n = 42)

2009–15 (n = 23)

All respondents (n = 311)



11.1%

7.3%

8.1%

12.7%

16.3%

15.6%

31.7%

41.6%

39.6%

44.4%

34.7%

36.7%

0%10%

20%30%

40%50%

60%70%

80%90%

100%

Federal government (n = 2)

Self‐employed or freelance (n = 8)

State or local government (n = 9)

K–12 education (n = 11)

For‐profit business or corporation (n = 14)

Nonprofit organization (n = 19)

Employed outside of postsecondary education (n = 63)

Administrative or professional staff, nonfaculty (n = 15)

Senior administrator w

ith faculty status (n = 12)

Faculty, non‐tenure‐track, part‐time (n = 8)

Faculty, non‐tenure‐track, full‐time (n = 36)

Faculty, tenure track (n = 12)

Faculty, tenured (n = 162)

Employed in postsecondary education (n = 245)


1 Very dissatisfied2 Dissatisfied

3 Neutral

4 Satisfied5 Very satisfied

Fig. 10 Respondents’ Job Satisfaction, by Sector of Em

ployment in 2017



2.5% 5.4%

6.7%8.1% 4.1%

9.5% 17.4%

6.7%

8.1%

16.2%

18.8%

6.8% 11.9%

30.4%

26.7%

15.6%

39.2%

38.8%

45.9%

50.0%

21.7%

13.3%

39.6%

36.5%

40.0%

37.8%

28.6%

30.4%

46.7%

36.7%

0%10%

20%30%

40%50%

60%70%

80%90%

100%

1996–98 (n = 74)

1999–2001 (n = 80)

2002–05 (n = 74)

2006–08 (n = 42)

2009–15 (n = 23)

Year of graduation unknown (n = 15)


1 Very disssatisfied2 Dissatisfied

3 Neutral

4 Satisfied5 Very satisfied

Fig. 11 Respondents’ Job Satisfaction, by Year PhD W

as Received



Fig. 12 Percentage of Respondents, by Salary Levels

6.0%

19.1%

24.1%

26.4%

14.0%

10.4%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%

(Missing = 12)

Under $40,000 (n= 18)

$40,000–$64,999 (n = 57)

$65,000–$79,999 (n = 72)

$80,000–$99,999 (n = 79)

$100,000–$124,999 (n = 42)

$125,000 and above (n = 39)



11.7%

23.3%

18.3%

13.3%

11.7%

21.7%

4.6%

18.0%

25.5%

29.7%

14.6%

7.5%

0%5%

10%15%

20%25%

30%35%

Under $40,000

$40,000–$64,999

$65,000–$79,999

$80,000–$99,999

$100,000–$124,999

$125,000 andabove

In postsecondary education

Outside postsecondary education

Fig. 13 Salary Levels of Respondents, by Em

ployment in or outside Postsecondary Education



6.7%

16.3%

16.7%

0.6%

4.6%

6.7%

37.2% 41.7%

13.3%

18.0%

26.7%

9.1%

25.6%

8.3%

27.8%

25.5%

20.0%

27.3%

16.3%

25.0%

34.8% 29.7%13.3%

18.2%

8.3%

19.0%

14.6%

26.7%

45.5%

4.7%

4.4%

7.5%

0%10%

20%30%

40%50%

60%70%

80%90%

100%




Faculty, non‐tenure‐track (n = 43)

Faculty, tenure‐track (n = 12)


All respondents employed in postsecondary education (n = 239)

Under $40,000

$40,000–$64,999$65,000–$79,999

$80,000–$99,999$100,000–$124,999

$125,000 and above

Fig. 14 Distribution across Salary Levels of Respondents Em

ployed in Postsecondary Education, by Type of Faculty or Administrative Position



Fig. 15. Distribution across Salary Levels of Respondents Employed outside Postsecondary Education, by Sector of Em

ployment

37.5%

12.5%

9.1%

11.1%

11.7%

37.5%

25.0%

27.3%

30.8%

11.1%

23.3%

12.5%

37.5%

9.1%

23.1%

16.7%

18.3%

12.5%

18.2% 7.7%

22.2%

13.3%

12.5%

50.0%

27.3%

7.7%

5.6%

11.7%

12.5%

50.0%

9.1%

30.8%

33.3%

21.7%

0%10%

20%30%

40%50%

60%70%

80%90%

100%

Self‐employed or freelance (n = 8)

State or local government (n = 8)

Federal government (n = 2)

K–12 education (n = 11)

For‐profit business or corporation (n = 13)

Nonprofit organization (n = 18)

All respondents employed outside higher education (n = 60)

Under $40,000

$40,000–$64,999$65,000–$79,999

$80,000–$99,999$100,000–$124,999

$125,000 and above

Fig. 15 Distribution across Salary Levels of Respondents Em

ployed outside Postsecondary Education, by Sector of Employm

ent



4.8%

1.0%

33.3%

4.8%

4.5% 8.3%

1.2% 2.3%

21.0%

26.7%

29.5%

4.9% 10.2% 12.2%

22.6%

46.7%

33.3%

22.7%

25.0%

14.1%

19.1% 19.6%

66.7%

46.8%

26.7%

66.7%

43.2%

66.7%

81.0%

69.5%

65.0%

0%10%

20%30%

40%50%

60%70%

80%90%

100%

Retired (n = 3)

All outside postsecondary education (n = 62)




Faculty, non‐tenure‐track (n = 44)

Faculty, tenure track (n = 12)


All postsecondary education (n = 246)


Very disadvantageousDisadvantageous

Neutral

AdvantageousVery advantageous

Fig. 16 Reported Advantageousness of PhD to Careers, by Sector of Em

ployment



8.7%

1.4%

0.4%

1.0%

13.0%

2.7%

2.6%

1.5%

2.3%

20.0%

17.4%

11.9% 10.8%

12.3%

10.5%

11.4%

12.2%

33.3%

17.4%

19.0%

14.9%

22.2%

19.7%

19.0% 19.6%

46.7%

43.5%

69.0%

70.3%

65.4%

67.1%

67.8%

65.0%

0%10%

20%30%

40%50%

60%70%

80%90%

100%

Graduation year unknow

n (n = 15)

2009–15 (n = 23)

2006–08 (n = 42)

2002–05 (n = 74)

1999–2001 (n = 81)

1996–98 (n = 76)

1996–2008 aggregated (n = 273)


1 Very disadvantageous2 Disadvantageous

3 Neutral

4 Advantageous5 Very advantageous

Fig. 17 Reported Advantageousness of PhD to Career, by Year PhD W

as Received



Fig. 18 Has Your Primary Job and Chief Source of Income Ever Been a Part-Time Teaching Position or Positions in Postsecondary Education?


Fig. 18. Has Your Primary Job and Chief Source of Income Ever Been a Part‐Time Teaching Position or Positions in Postsecondary Education?


Yes, in a four‐year institution, 29.4%

Yes, in a two‐year institution, 4.5%

Yes, in a four‐year and a two‐year institution, 5.2%

No, 61.0%

Fig. 19 Has Your Primary Job and Chief Source of Income Ever Been a Part-Time Teaching Position or Positions in Postsecondary Education?

Source: 2017 MLA follow-up survey of modern language PhDs (n = 175 [respondents who held tenured or tenure-track faculty positions in 2017])

Fig. 19. Has Your Primary Job and Chief Source of Income Ever Been a Part‐Time Teaching Position or Positions in Postsecondary Education?

Source: 2017 MLA follow‐up survey of modern language PhDs (n = 175 [respondents who held tenured or tenure‐track faculty positions in 2017]

Yes, in a four‐year institution, 28.0%

Yes, in a two‐year institution, 4.0%

Yes, in a four‐year and a two‐year institution,

2.9%

No, 65.1%



Fig. 20 Have You Experienced Periods of Unemployment since Receiving Your PhD?


Fig. 20. Have You Experienced Periods of Unemployment since Receiving Your PhD?


Yes, three months or less, 7.1%

Yes, four to six months, 4.5%

Yes, six to twelve months, 5.5%

Yes, twelve to twenty‐four months,

3.9%

Yes, more than twenty‐four months, 2.9%

No, 76.2%

Yes, 23.8%

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