Humanities graduates' influence on Britain's economy

Humanities graduates played a large and growing role in employment sectors which brought about growth in the UK economy in the 1970s and 1980s, research has found. A report commissioned by Oxford University's Humanities Division found that numbers of Oxford graduates of English, History, Philosophy, Classics and Modern Languages employed in key economic growth sectors of finance, media, legal services and management rose substantially between 1960 and 1989. By the end of the period, 16-20% were employed in these sectors. Humanities Graduates and the British Economy: The Hidden Impact is believed to be the first report of its kind as it evaluates the contribution of the study of the humanities to the economy by looking at career paths and midand end-career destinations of graduates, rather than the three years immediately after graduation as used by the government's Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). The research has involved using the University of Oxford alumni database to examine the employment history of 11,000 Oxford humanities graduates who matriculated between 1960 and 1989 to give full career paths to track, and has also involved focused in-depth s with 50 alumni, thereby engaging quantitative and qualitative measures of humanities graduates' impact on the British economy and society. Professor Shearer West, head of humanities at the University of Oxford, said: 'Although it is widely recognised that the humanities have intrinsic value as well as utility, the need to demonstrate the impact and value of the study of humanities to the economy and society has intensified during the recent economic crisis.