The Humanities Recession
Bachelor's degrees in English and in foreign languages, annual since 1971. English peaked in the very first year of the series and has roughly halved since, with most of the decline concentrated after 2010; foreign languages never built scale and have fallen back below their 1970s level. Because total degrees more than doubled over the same span, the fields' shares fell much further than their counts.
What does it show?
English degrees have halved since their 1971 peak even as total bachelor's degrees more than doubled; foreign-language degrees, never large, are back below their 1970s level. The retreat began around 2010 and has not slowed.
Methodology
Bachelor's degrees conferred in English language and literature and in foreign languages, literatures, and linguistics, from the Digest 2019 per-field tables extended through the latest year with table 322.10. Counts are absolute — the fields' share of a much larger degree pool has fallen even faster.