This study examines actual employment patterns of Ph.D.s in an effort to provide a basis for policy responses to what is felt to be a continuing crisis in the academic job market for humanities Ph.D.s. The study involved almost 6,000 Ph.D. candidates from 61 doctoral-granting institutions across the United States. Six disciplines were chosen to represent major fields of study: life science, engineering, humanities, physical science, humanities, and social science; the survey population accounted for 57 percent of Ph.D. degrees awarded. Some of the issues examined include: different career paths of Ph.D.s; characteristics of English Ph.D. respondents (expectations and goals, paths to the professoriate, postdoctoral appointments); career paths of English Ph.D.s within and outside academe (nonprofessional positions in academe, business, government, and nonprofit sectors); satisfaction with current employment and value of the Ph.D. (dimensions of job satisfaction/dissatisfaction); median 1995 total annual salary by sector and gender; usefulness of the doctoral education; value of the Ph.D.; and the lack of assistance by university departments/advisors in their job search. The study suggests a Career Management program for English doctoral students that would ease the transition from education to meaningful employment, citing the career workshop developed at the University of California Berkeley. (Contains 11 references.) (CH)