Contrary to the popular image of philosophy Ph.D.s forced to drive taxicabs for a living, a new study has found that in Canada, at least, advanced degrees in the liberal arts pay well and are at least as cost-effective as those in science.
University of British Columbia economics professor Richard Allen calculated the value of a master's or Ph.D. degree by comparing the total cost of an education to projected annual income from graduation to age 65. His analysis, done for the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), was based on data from two 1995 government surveys, one on the employment of 122,463 advanced degree-holders; the other on the earnings of 2107 degree-holders from 1970 to 1995.
Allen found that a liberal arts degree frequently translated into a well-paying professional job. And because liberal arts majors are cheaper to educate--he estimated the cost of an advanced degree at $60,000, compared with $76,000 in the physical sciences--they actually proved to be more cost-effective than scientists. All told, degrees in education and commerce yielded the highest return on investment, 7.6%. The social sciences come next at 7.3%, then engineering, humanities, and health professions (excluding doctors) (6.9%), mathematics and physical sciences (6.7%), fine arts (6.5%), and agriculture and biology (5.9%).
SSHRC President Marc Renaud says he was "surprised" by the findings, as even he had been influenced by the perception that liberal arts doctorates are underemployed.
