STEM is strong. PhDs earn some of the highest salaries right out of college. But certainly not the same for men and women.
This set of data collected by the National Science Foundation for those completing their PhDs in 2016 shows it matters a lot what field you specialize in. While business management PhD pays the highest, economics and STEM fields too pay well. As specialization is prized more and more, highly skilled workers come at a premium. In fact, the median salaries in STEM fields are well into six figures.
An American woman earns only 81% of what a man earns. An American woman with PhD earns only 78% of a man with PhD! The only fields in which women earn as much as men are Health Sciences, most likely due to high concentration of women in these fields. For Science and Engineering, fields heavily dominated by men, the ratio is the worst.
The salaries for PhDs in ‘soft’ fields are much lower, as is the case for non-PhDs. That’s mainly due to fewer grants and fewer high impact jobs in these fields compared to the total workforce. However, some of the highest paying jobs are in Arts and Humanities, only if you can get them. No? Just look at Hollywood.
Source: Nature, 10 Jan 2018. Gender pay gap persists
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Previous charts-of-the-day:
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Oct 07, 2017 – Washington state top cities & jobs, May 2016
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Sep 26, 2017 – San Jose metro growth by select sectors, 2012-2015
Sep 25, 2017 – Austin metro growth rates by select industries, 2012-2015
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Sep 16, 2017 – Median rent in San Francisco, July 2017
Sep 15, 2017 – Median rent in San Jose, July 2017
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Sep 05, 2017 – no chart
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Sep 03, 2017 – Unemployment rate & labor participation rates, 1997-2017
Sep 02, 2017 – Earnings of men & women, up to 2015
Sep 01, 2017 – US household income trend, 2015
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Aug 30, 2017 – US median salaries for fastest growing occupations in next 10 years, 2016
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Aug 19, 2017 – no chart
Aug 18, 2017 – no chart
Aug 17, 2017 – Worth of money in parallel worlds (with housing leverage), $100k from Jan 2010 to Jun 2017
Aug 16, 2017 – no chart
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An economy that requires more economists and managers than engineers and scientists is not economically sustainable on the long run. You need the people to actually produce the value that you’ll manage and economize…
That’s true. Based on my experience, one manager for every 8-10 engineers/scientists is what large corporations typically employ. The number of economists is probably even lower since they compete with quants (math, physics PhDs) and are employed for pretty smaller sector of the economy. But if you really want an economist’s job, try one in Argentina, where they compete with the celebrities (https://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21635016-tango-fame-argentine-economists-tinged-sadness-sages)
“An American woman gets paid only 81% of what a man gets paid. An American woman with PhD gets paid only 78% of a man with PhD! The only fields in which women earn as much as men are Health Sciences, most likely due to high concentration of women in these fields. For Science and Engineering, fields heavily dominated by men, the ratio is the worst.”
Either you don’t know the difference between “getting paid” and “earns”, or American companies are the stupidest in the world for hiring men, where they could be saving a bunch of money by hiring women.
As unequal pay has been illegal since the 1963 Equal Pay Act, and yet there hardly ever is a case of a company being taken to court – let alone convicted – for class-discrimination, I guess it is the former.
Fair point. “Earn” would be a better word for this discussion and is updated accordingly. Thanks for the feedback!