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| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 3,091 | 0.00% |
| 2020 | 20,178 | 0.01% |
| 2019 | 21,153 | 0.01% |
| 2018 | 16,949 | 0.01% |
| 2017 | 17,002 | 0.01% |
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $38,681 | $18.60 | +2.5% |
| 2024 | $37,735 | $18.14 | +0.3% |
| 2023 | $37,633 | $18.09 | +1.8% |
| 2022 | $36,961 | $17.77 | +1.7% |
| 2021 | $36,335 | $17.47 | +3.7% |
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vermont | 623,657 | 212 | 34% |
| 2 | New Hampshire | 1,342,795 | 369 | 27% |
| 3 | Delaware | 961,939 | 218 | 23% |
| 4 | Minnesota | 5,576,606 | 1,035 | 19% |
| 5 | Wyoming | 579,315 | 103 | 18% |
| 6 | West Virginia | 1,815,857 | 301 | 17% |
| 7 | South Dakota | 869,666 | 132 | 15% |
| 8 | Rhode Island | 1,059,639 | 146 | 14% |
| 9 | Montana | 1,050,493 | 142 | 14% |
| 10 | North Dakota | 755,393 | 105 | 14% |
| 11 | Maine | 1,335,907 | 170 | 13% |
| 12 | Massachusetts | 6,859,819 | 803 | 12% |
| 13 | Nebraska | 1,920,076 | 236 | 12% |
| 14 | Connecticut | 3,588,184 | 410 | 11% |
| 15 | Kansas | 2,913,123 | 331 | 11% |
| 16 | New Mexico | 2,088,070 | 232 | 11% |
| 17 | Idaho | 1,716,943 | 192 | 11% |
| 18 | Alaska | 739,795 | 83 | 11% |
| 19 | Maryland | 6,052,177 | 609 | 10% |
| 20 | Iowa | 3,145,711 | 321 | 10% |
| Rank | City | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anchorage | 1 | 0% | $41,432 |

Northern Arizona University

Davidson College

Arkansas Tech University

University of Michigan

University of Louisville

King’s College
Case Western Reserve University
Gonzaga University
Purdue University

University of Findlay
University of Central Florida
Universty of San Francisco
Southern Oregon University

Texas State University
Merrimack College
University of Kansas

College of Saint Benedict
California State University - Fresno

Pennsylvania State University, the Behrend College.

Lafayette College

Northern Arizona University
Department of English
Lawrence Lenhart: Ability to help writers across the disciplines
Lawrence Lenhart: Clear/logical/organized communication (written and oral), empathic listening
Lawrence Lenhart: Understanding of writing conventions in different contexts: professional versus academic versus creative versus analytical versus business versus scientific versus legal versus journalism
Lawrence Lenhart: For someone working for themselves (e.g., tutor, freelance writer/editor, etc.): initiative, career self-management, innovative thinking / for someone working for a company (e.g., teacher, journalist, ): ability to leverage their strengths to support not just themselves, but entire departments; understanding/willingness to contribute to leadership's vision

Cynthia Lewis Ph.D.: Demonstrated facility with language; the ability to tap into how the tutor learned what the tutee needs to know and to use that knowledge in tutoring; the ability to interest students in both reading and writing accomplished prose; a command of the vocabulary of English grammar and an ability to explain good grammatical practices; a grasp of the elements of composition and style.
(Some of these skills would come out in a cover letter versus a resume.)
Cynthia Lewis Ph.D.: The willingness to be supportive and encouraging without exaggerating the tutee's accomplishments; a gift for explaining writing mechanics.
Cynthia Lewis Ph.D.: Experience at writing for publication or being recognized for writing (as by winning a contest); a solid grasp of English grammar and the ability to explain grammatical principles; the willingness to engage with students' writing, review it carefully, and give constructive responses and suggestions to it.
Cynthia Lewis Ph.D.: I would say not so many skills as demonstrated experience and having testimonials from students, the tutor has helped successfully.

Lyn Brands: -Able to clearly explain, talk about a topic
-Willingness to learn
-Adaptive to change
-Visionary

University of Michigan
English Language & Literature Department
Laura Aull: Ability to:
- conduct research to compile information,
- ability to synthesize information, including identifying connections and implications,
- strong formal written and oral communication,
- organizational skills
- communication and project management experience, especially in educational settings or community organization settings
Laura Aull: - formal oral and written communication skills
- interpersonal engagement
- ability to identify what is needed and break up information well to communicate with different stakeholders (e.g., administrators, staff, students, parents, faculty, donors, etc.)
Laura Aull: - navigating institutional and academic databases
- identifying and summarizing best practices and research
- website oversight, visualization, and management
Laura Aull: The best is a combination of the above skills, including strong writing skills and strong digital communication and oversight skills.

Karen Chandler Ph.D.: One enduring impact of the pandemic may be that students will realize they have the ability to adjust to disruptive circumstances and find ways to carry on their work and fulfill their responsibilities and goals. I've been impressed by the English department's interns, majors and minors not only learning how to navigate the challenges of remote, distance ed and hybrid courses, but also to make the best of circumstances. I see them learning how to use teleconferencing platforms, coming up with ways to connect and do their work, etc.
Karen Chandler Ph.D.: I don't assume that there will be one paradigm, but I suppose many recent graduates' work will include more remote work than before the pandemic. Their academic work in virtual classrooms, while different, may help prepare them to do individual tasks and collaborative work remotely.
Karen Chandler Ph.D.: Interest in graduate programs seems to indicate that more students are considering returning to university to pursue higher degrees. For those in the workplace outside higher ed, an environment, whether actual or virtual, that fosters recent graduates' development would be important. This would involve clear communication and trust.
Dr. Robin Field Ph.D.: The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that many jobs traditionally set in offices may be done remotely with great success. While freelance writers, editors, and designers have worked remotely for years, today's graduates in English, Professional Writing, and Literature will have greater opportunities to work from home at full-time positions across the country. The pivot to online education in early 2020 also demonstrated the technical savvy of English and Professional Writing majors. These graduates are adaptable to new workplace conditions, in addition to their strengths in critical thinking, analysis, information literacy, and writing. English majors today are excited about the flexibility that their careers will hold.
Dr. Robin Field Ph.D.: Employers appreciate excellent communication skills-from the written to the oral, from strong interpersonal skills to leadership experiences. Prospective employees may demonstrate these skills in a variety of ways. Internships offer invaluable workplace experiences that help to develop these skills, so undergraduate students should try to complete at least one internship, if not more, in fields such as nonprofits, marketing and public relations, and research/editing fields. Working with on-campus publications, such as a newspaper, literary magazine, or radio station, also develops these integral skills, as well as offers opportunities to showcase creativity-another key skill employers are looking for. While graduate degrees may be important in certain fields, they certainly need not be pursued immediately upon graduation.
Dr. Robin Field Ph.D.: To move up in certain fields does require graduate credentials, and some employers will pay for their employees' master's degrees. Many graduate programs have some or all of their programs online or in a weekend/summer format in order to accommodate workers. All employees should consider their options carefully to minimize student loan debt while also earning their next credential.
Case Western Reserve University
Department of English
Dr. Gabrielle Bycowski Ph.D.: English Degrees are more important now than they were in previous decades. While some people may jokingly ask, "what job can you get with an English Degree?" The answer is: many. Communication skills, including the ability to read with comprehension, analyze information, and translate that knowledge into easy to consume forms, are increasing in demand. Professions that require a high level of coordination or regularly utilize communication technologies have long known the value of a job candidate with an English major or minor.
As other professions modernize, more and more business is being done online or across distances. Websites and teleconferencing are becoming increasingly normal and essential. As businesses start to communicate directly to consumers, job candidates need to be able to translate information from experts into chunks that can be put onto social media. My advice to English majors is to not think about their degree as an identity but as a collection of skills and proficiencies. If you break down the talents and training of an English major, you find the traits of a strong job candidate for the ever evolving, increasingly communication-based workplace of the coming decade.
Katey Roden Ph.D.: Written and oral communication skills are essential for workplace success. The ability to clearly articulate or clarify ideas and/or project plans is a key indicator of potential for career advancement. In a corporate world of emails or Slack channels, expressing complex ideas in clear and concise language is a great value.
Purdue University
English Department
Derek Pacheco Ph.D.: When talking about job prospects for English majors, I always recommend George Anders' You Can Do Anything (2017). In it, he argues that there are enormous possibilities for humanities and liberal arts graduates in "tech-adjacent" careers-not Big Tech or Silicon Valley per se, but a wide swath of industries (that is to say most of them) transformed by the major digital innovations of the last couple of decades, especially as the cost of technological literacy has come down and the need for human-centered skills has gone up. So, even in a world where STEM and engineers seem to reign, the biggest opportunities tend to be in careers that emphasize time-honored skills like curiosity, creativity, clear writing, deep reading, empathy, racial and cultural sensitivities, and collaboration. A long perspective, the ability to understand and learn from the past as well as to anticipate trends in the future, is also helpful. The great thing about studying English is that these essential career skills are embedded in the activities our students love to do: reading great books, learning about different cultures, times, and places, and crafting persuasive, emotionally-affecting arguments or stories.
Derek Pacheco Ph.D.: Recent studies demonstrate that employers continue to rank these sorts of humanities-friendly skills ahead of specific technical competencies (which go out of fashion much faster) when seeking job candidates. Even in highly technical fields like engineering, employers see people skills as important indicators of long-term employee potential. (So, if you want to be an engineer, you'd be smart to consider minoring in English or a foreign language as a way to differentiate yourself in an increasingly competitive market!) Anders' book was written a few years ago, but, if the pandemic has taught us anything, it's that virtually all "white collar" careers are now tech-adjacent, increasingly characterized by Slack chats, Zoom meetings, working from home. I expect that this trend will accelerate, and along with it the importance of the people skills needed to thrive in this twenty-first-century workplace.
I also see more and more students in English double majoring or minoring in other programs as they explore their intellectual interests, professional abilities, and personal aspirations for life and work after college. This is a good thing, and true to the Liberal Arts spirit. Here at Purdue University, for example, our slimmed down English major (10 or 11 classes, depending on the track) is designed for flexibility, readily stacking with other plans of study across the college and campus. I always say that, basically, we're the department of storytelling-and storytelling is essential in any profession, whether told through language, images, or data. By the time they graduate, our students should have a story to share about themselves, their experiences, their education, their passions, their goals. A Literature major with a double minor in Management and Spanish, or a Creative Writing major with a double major in Physics (real examples), is going to have a much more interesting story to tell about themselves than otherwise.

Dr. Jennifer Fennema-Bloom: Short-term impact:
The coronavirus pandemic may impact short-term employment especially for TESOL graduates as the virus shut down visa offices all over the world, that coupled with restrictive visa policies in the United States dissuaded and/or prevented international students from studying in the United States. This in turn affected the ability for many universities to sustain their campus' intensive English language programs (IELPs/ELPs). However, if the vaccine is distributed and is as affective as hoped for, we should see countries opening their visa offices and a return to pre-coronavirus numbers. With that and hopefully a relaxation of the prior administrations restrictive immigration/study abroad policies, we may even see growth over the next four years.
Long-term impact:
An enduring impact is that of technology, on-line classes may increase as students and teachers became, out of necessity, more familiar with technologies that support on-line learning environments. I'm seeing an uptake of on-line instructors, that no longer have relocate to the country and live abroad to teach, but rather can teach from their laptops at home. Those in the testing and assessment fields have also had to adapt to make their tests more available to those quarantined. Universities have widened their test range from just IELTS and TOEFL scores to a wider range of tests that are more student friendly in price and accessibility such as offered by Duolingo.
Long term negative impact to foreign language teaching - I'm seeing PK12 schools start to replace foreign language faculty in lieu of on-line College Credit Plus (CCP) programs that give students access to college level language curriculum and teachers. Smaller schools thus no longer have to support their own faculty member and can take advantage of on-line university courses to meet language graduation requirements they may have in place.
Dr. Keith Folse Ph.D.: Graduating in the middle of a pandemic might seem daunting to many young people, and it certainly is uncharted territory. However, the good news is that businesses will have had at least a full year trying to figure out how to operate in our new reality with COVID-19. I would tell students that companies will survive, and they need to grow, which means they need to hire new people -- you!
I would tell students fresh out of college to be patient and to be flexible. The same job you wanted may not be hiring right now, so be ready and willing to consider other options.
For those graduating with a degree in language or linguistics, there are several possibilities. One steady option is teaching. I teach "Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL)," and my students will try to get a job teaching English conversation overseas, such as in China or Japan, or Saudi Arabia. Unlike in the US, some countries have much lower COVID rates, and students are now learning face-to-face. Another possibility for new TEFL graduates is to teach students online from the US. No, this is not as cool as going to teach in those countries, but it is a viable option for now that allows you to gain valuable experience and earn some money. They will be even more competitive in the job market because of their accumulated knowledge.
Elliot Neaman Ph.D.: In the corporate world, companies are now having to shift from a physical workspace to working at home, so that means young people entering the workforce have an advantage since they are usually more tech savvy than older people, although that is not always the case. There will be new opportunities in companies that see a lot of demand because of the pandemic. Think about at-home exercise companies like Peleton. Obviously a lot of businesses are suffering or disappearing, like retail and restaurants, so you'll see a shift away from that, but service industries are going to become even more important, especially those that fill the niche of providing services at home.
Elliot Neaman Ph.D.: Again, good tech training is a central requirement. I would learn to code if I were a young person. I would use the gap year to do a lot of reading and perhaps learn a language.
Southern Oregon University
Educational Administration And Supervision
Amy Belcastro Ph.D.: First is to take the time to know what are your strengths and areas for improvement. You are intentionally crafting your professional reputation. Next, consider where you want to be in five years and what steps are needed to get there. It is the balancing act of long-term goals and short-time needs. Being intentional is key. Every step matters so step with intention. That said, there are many roads to Rome so explore, take risks, but be aware that you are crafting your professional reputation and self.
Amy Belcastro Ph.D.: I would refer you to my first email and add what many are saying, the genie is not going gently back into the bottle. Working from a distance is not going away. That said, the ripple effect will shift how we educate, communicate, and employ people. The ability to thrive within ambiguity, communicate effectively via technology and with cultural humility, and be innovative within and outside of the box will be in high demand.
Amy Belcastro Ph.D.: First, focus on updating your current resume to clearly communicate and provide evidence of your transferable skills and cognitive competencies such as strong communication and technology skills; the ability to work well with others who may be different in backgrounds, beliefs, etc.; leadership skills, and problem solving and complex thinking. After you have done this, assess where you are lacking and create a plan to strengthen your resume by seeking experiences. A very popular method of doing this is by completing a digital badge or micro-credential at an institute of higher education. It is a way of acknowledging competencies and skills in much less time than a college degree would take. Some may only be a few credits. This is becoming very popular for the workforce and therefore more institutions of higher education are offering these, some in partnership with companies.

Dr. Yasmine Beale-Rivaya Ph.D.: Not surprisingly, large metropolitan areas offer the largest volume and greatest range of opportunities for job aspirants with advanced foreign language skills. A recent survey of job advertisements in Texas found Arabic, Chinese, and Spanish to be the fastest-growing foreign language preferences, with increasingly numerous opportunities in Houston, Dallas/Fort Worth, San Antonio, Austin, and El Paso and their surrounding areas.
However, the career benefits afforded by expertise in a foreign language and culture are remarkable across all parts of the U.S. According to a recent employment study by Burning Doors (summarized in Forbes) more than seven in ten majors in Foreign Languages and Literatures have secured employment appropriate to their level of education within five years of taking their first job. This is first among all humanities, and also ahead of business management, marketing, education, all social sciences, biomedical sciences, health professions, and social work.
Our undergraduate and graduate students pursue many different career paths. Every year, we have several students enter Ph.D. programs and several have gone on to become tenure-track professors and visiting professors. You will also find Texas State's graduates all over the state engaging high school students with exciting language programs that include high school travel abroad and internship programs. The most recent trend, however, is for companies to select our graduates to fill very necessary service gaps due to their language skills. We already have former students working in government jobs such as the U.S. Labor Department, in health departments as translators, in the courts, as city emergency operators, and as community coordinators. We are also finding that there is more and more demand for our graduates in business fields such as business management, finance, marketing, international sales, and even the legal profession. In each of these cases, the students were hired due to their high-level and specialized language skills.
Dr. Yasmine Beale-Rivaya Ph.D.: This is a difficult question as we don't know what permanent changes the pandemic will produce. However, current literature on jobs and consumer interest has to do with providing a customized experience. Customers are no longer satisfied being treated as a number. They want to consume products and services that they can identify with, that make them feel as if they were produced or created with them in mind. To this point, customers want to be talked to and marketed to in their preferred language. I believe that the most successful companies will be those that can market and communicate with their customers on their level. They will want to employ people who can address multiple markets. In a highly-competitive globalized market, the higher-level language skills one has, the more versatile and valuable one becomes to an employer.
Dr. Yasmine Beale-Rivaya Ph.D.: Job candidates whose resumes indicate advanced foreign language skills and international sophistication generally receive greater consideration from potential employers.
The skills that I think will be the most important are demonstrating that one has the ability to respond to customers in a way that resonates personally with them. In terms of language, that means being able to communicate with customers in their language, and especially, in their dialect. It won’t be enough to just be able to speak the language. Employees will need those unquantifiable skills and a deep knowledgebase that only comes through a sustained and broad knowledge of the culture and literature. This level of cultural sophistication is in demand across various professional fields, such as journalism, international relations, translation, interpretation, publishing, higher education, global business, health care, and customer service.
I believe employers are going to look for employees who can produce professional material in the target language at a high skill level and also produce material that is targeted to their different customer markets. Content will need to be creative and reference all those items that form part of a person’s cultural memory and traditions. Thus, companies will not be able to rely on auto-translations.
Among our language offerings at Texas State are Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Russian, and Portuguese, which are all designated as Critical Languages by the U.S. Department of State. Academic programs that enable students to acquire foreign language skills while acquiring intercultural competency in critical languages help prepare them to meet the specific demand for specialists in global communications and international affairs.
Advanced language study in the form of minors or second majors complements the skills of graduates in other academic majors such as International Relations, International Studies, History, Political Science, Psychology, English, Anthropology, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Economics, Mass Communication, Communication Studies, Journalism and Mass Communication, Criminal Justice, and Computer Science, providing students the opportunity to enhance their professional career opportunities.
Deborah Margolis Ph.D.: COVID has taught us many things about education in the U.S., for example, that we were woefully underprepared to deal with a pandemic. But it has also taught us that some of the most important characteristics needed for young graduates looking to enter the field are flexibility, resilience, and perseverance.
We have always wanted to be sure that graduates of education programs are prepared to teach the students in their classrooms as well as the content, but what we have learned is that we can't plan for all possible scenarios and that while we might try and we might get better at planning for the unexpected, good teachers need to be flexible in their thinking and in their ability to shift gears and do things differently. Good teachers need to be resilient in the face of adversity so that they can recognize risk factors and manage them without alarm and panic because panicky adults signal alarm to students.
For many years we have known that perseverance is one of the most important characteristics involved in student success and we have learned that the same is true for teachers. Changes in modality have been challenging for most if not all teachers and those who have been able to persevere in the face of the changes have been more successful. Graduates also need to have familiarity and comfort with educational technology platforms. Finally and perhaps most importantly, graduates need to have knowledge of and willingness to support the social-emotional development of students. This is true in any teaching setting but is critical during times of unusual, chronic, and unrelenting stress.
Deborah Margolis Ph.D.: The COVID pandemic has triggered the retirement of many seasoned educators, so many districts are in need of committed new graduates. Typically, during non-pandemic times, urban districts tend to have more openings. Commitment to teach in an urban or otherwise underserved district can provide a wonderful experience for new graduates looking to make a meaningful contribution to the education and lives of the students with whom they work.
University of Kansas
Department of History
Luis Corteguera: Learning a language is one of the most important skills to acquire, and there are many opportunities that can later be complemented with university courses. Any kind of professional experience can also be valuable, not necessarily because it will help to build a resume for the future, but more importantly, to explore interests and maybe discard options. These experiences can also give students a better awareness and appreciation for the skills that can best be acquired through university studies.
Luis Corteguera: Make a plan for the future that outlines short-, medium-, and long-term goals. Discuss these plans with a variety of people (family, friends, acquaintances, professionals in areas of interst), and if available, with career planning professionals at the university, many of which continue to offer support even after graduation. Request "informational interviews" with all kinds of people in professions that may be of interest, even if you don't know them personally. Not only are these helpul to ask questions about career paths, but these interviews can also help to build professional networks.

College of Saint Benedict
Department of Peace Studies
Jeffrey Anderson Ph.D.: People are still at the center of many of these jobs, so people skills remain important. Similarly, fluency in a second language also appears to be a huge asset, as these efforts are undertaken to reach communities that are especially hard hit. Finally, organizations hiring for positions that involve an element of research are also pleased to see data analytics capabilities.
California State University - Fresno
Department of Philosophy
Negin Tahvildary Ph.D.: Considering that for the first time in history, there are five generations in the workplace, and with recent changes in the population demographics locally and nationally, it is essential for future practitioners to gain proper knowledge in cultural competence, develop social-emotional skills and most importantly, practice critical thinking. These three skills are transferable regardless of the industry. We need to empower compassionate, highly-trained, intellectually-curious, adaptive leaders to efficiently deliver services that meet the social and cultural needs of our nation and the globe.

Dr. Amy Carney Ph.D.: I think one of the biggest trends we are going to continue to see in the job market is also a valuable skill for college grads and soon-to-be college grads: flexibility. This has always been a minor trend for many jobs - for example, are you willing to move to another part of the state or country for a job? But flexibility is a much more prominent trend now - are you capable of quickly learning the necessary skills to do your job in different formats? In this regard, someone with a history degree, or another humanities or liberal arts degree, will be in a very strong position to apply for a wide range of jobs because of the diverse portfolio of transferable skills students learn in these majors, not the least of which are communication skills.
Dr. Amy Carney Ph.D.: That's a hard one to pin down for a history major! I think it entirely depends on the job. Having the ability to fine-tune your resume and cover letter for each job application to highlight the most important skills for that job is a super ability to have. But in general, I would say that demonstrating strong critical thinking and communication skills will always be high on my list for a strong resume. Having those skills front and center will serve as a solid foundation on which a person can best sell him/herself in any job application.
Dr. Amy Carney Ph.D.: We need great teachers, lawyers, archivists, librarians, analysts, et cetera, everywhere in the country. There are often opportunities at think tanks, research institutes, publishers, and government agencies around the country. History is also a viable route for people interested in management and leadership positions in business, and such jobs are likewise available around the country.

Eric Ziolkowski Ph.D.: No area of academic inquiry is better suited than religious studies, an inherently interdisciplinary area devoted to critically fathoming the limitless spiritual resources of religions, for encouraging students to cultivate the kinds of intellectual perspectives and skills that will be needed to navigate the existential quandaries and challenges of the post-pandemic world.