Questions for consideration (pdf).

The philosophy major is an excellent preparation for law school, for business, for government and civil service, and for advanced academic work in the humanities and social sciences. Philosophy majors can and do pursue a variety of courses upon graduation. Both public and private employers have good reason to seek graduates who major in philosophy. This is because philosophy majors have the skills that employers say they want. A Wall Street Journal article (reprinted in the Mercury News 11/15/95) states that philosophy majors have these writing and verbal skills. The article's evidence is that philosophy majors who took the Graduate Record Exam between 1990 and 1993 finished first among all fields in verbal skills and third in analytical skills.
More recently, an article in The New York Times gives a clear idea of societal need: "Philosophers find the degree pays off in life and in work." The New York Times, Dec. 26, 1997 C-1/4. [The rest of the data in this section is from this same article.] Although few students who graduate in philosophy with a B.A. go on to make a living as philosophers they do remarkably well. This is probably because they are more likely than those with other degrees to attend graduate or professional school, although often outside the field of philosophy.

Look at the students who received B.A.s in Philosophy in 1977. The New York Times found that, although some of these now make under $50,000 per year, the more typical salary range is between $50,000-60,000. Some make over $200,000. Many computer scientists have B.A.s in philosophy. This is not surprising since there is a close connection between philosophical logic and computers. Philosophy B.A.s also often go on to law school.

Some Philosophy B.A.s and M.A.s go on to Ph.D. programs. Of 7,500 holders of Philosophy Ph.D.s in 1995, 64.5% were college teachers. Becoming a philosophy college teacher is not easy. More than 1,000 people with Ph.D.s applied for 448 openings nation-wide last year, and many of these jobs were only temporary.
9.7% were managers or executives, 3.3% had management-related jobs, 3.0% were lawyers or judges, 2.6% had computer related occupations, 2.3% were artists or writers, 1.5% were clergy or religious workers, 1.5% were librarians or archivists, 1.2% were social scientists, and 10.4% were other. A fair number of B.A.s and Ph.D's in philosophy also go into medicine.
The Times reports that many philosophy majors who go on to other fields strongly believe that their training in philosophy, especially in logic, ethics, creative thinking, and writing, was valuable in their careers. (National Research Council Data Provided by the American Philosophical Association)This data states that 84.1% of 8300 Philosophy Ph.D.s surveyed were employed full-time, 7.1% were retired, 6.5% were employed part-time, and 2.3% were unemployed. Of the 7500 with full-time employment 79.7% worked in an educational institution, 69.7% of these in a four-year college or university, 4.4% in a two-year college, 3.9% in a university affiliated research institute, 1.4% in elementary or secondary school, and .3% in another sort of educational institution. 6.9% worked for a private company, 4.4% were self-employed, 4.6% worked for a non-profit, and 4.1% for government. In 1995 of 298 Ph.D.s received were 226 males, 72 females, 2 Native Americans, 11 Asians, 3 Blacks, 221 Whites, and 9 Hispanics. (Data found in the Digest of Educational Statistics provided by the American Philosophical Association)

Bachelor's Degrees in Philosophy have an interesting history. In 1949-50 there were 2831 awarded (2245 male, 386 female). After a brief downward trend the numbers went up consistently from 1955-56 (2662) to 1967-68 (5751) at which time the numbers vacillated, reaching a high of 5939 in 1971-72. There followed a steady decline to 3300 in 1983-84, and the low point of 3265 in 1985-1986. Numbers then started rising again steadily until 1991-2 at 4846. They declined to 4691 in 1993-94, the last date available for study.