Highly educated lowly paid. Post-doctoral salaries are even lower than the median household earnings in US, despite years of toiling to get there.
Most people starting a PhD dream of working in academia without realizing the years of post-doctoral roles needed to get there. What they also don’t realize are the measly salaries despite such high qualifications. This dataset from NSF, for those finishing PhD in 2016, shows the median salary of a post-doc was approximately $45k for men & $44k for women, well below the 2016 US household income of $59k.
By looking at different fields, economics and management pay the highest, an almost 20% premium although salaries in most other fields are pretty close. However, these are nowhere close to what industry pays, which are often in six figures.
There are few bright points though. First, academia seems gender neutral and salaries in most fields are well matched between men and women. That’s a far cry from the US average earnings and salaries in the industry where women earn almost 20% less than men. Second, ‘soft’ fields with low salaries in industry still pay as much as engineering and ‘hard’ sciences for a post-doc.
We live in an era of high complexity that demands more and more specialization. A PhD alone may not be sufficient to get the right training and stints as post-docs will likely become part of the skill set required to get an edge for tomorrow’s workforce. But it will be interesting to see how long they will be willing to wait for the big paycheck and keeping toiling.
Source: Nature, 10 Jan 2018. Gender pay gap persists
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Previous charts-of-the-day:
Jan 20, 2018 – Social skills in wage growth and employment
Jan 15, 2018 – Post-doc salaries
Jan 14, 2018 – PhD salaries
Jan 8, 2018 – Power of passport
Oct 29, 2017 – Least changed cities
Oct 28, 2017 – Most changed cities
Oct 27, 2017 – Halloween expenditure, 2017 (projected)
Oct 26, 2017 – no chart
Oct 25, 2017 – no chart
Oct 24, 2017 – Life expectancy and retirement age
Oct 23, 2017 – no chart
Oct 22, 2017 – US healthcare expenditure 2016
Oct 21, 2017 – Age vs what we eat
Oct 20, 2017 – US job mobility
Oct 19, 2017 – no chart
Oct 18, 2017 – US annual household food expenditure, 2016
Oct 17, 2017 – US annual cost of housing, 2016
Oct 16, 2017 – US annual household expenses, 2016
Oct 15, 2017 – US manufacturing employment and output, 1980-2017
Oct 14, 2017 – Oregon weekly wages by counties, Oct-Dec 2016
Oct 13, 2017 – Ratio of women’s wages compared to men since 1979
Oct 12, 2017 – Career change after age 40, AIER 2015
Oct 11, 2017 – Average time spent per day on primary activities, 2016 annual average
Oct 10, 2017 – Home price comparison for US, Canada, UK & Australia, 1980-2017
Oct 09, 2017 – California state best paying jobs by cities – Part II, May 2016
Oct 08, 2017 – California state best paying jobs by cities – Part I, May 2016
Oct 07, 2017 – Washington state top cities & jobs, May 2016
Oct 06, 2017 – Oregon top cities & jobs, May 2016
Oct 05, 2017 – Employment rate participation – 1990-2010 & projected 2020
Oct 04, 2017 – Employment by metro, Aug 2016 – Aug 2017
Oct 03, 2017 – Top ten employers in CA, OR, WA states
Oct 02, 2017 – California based companies with revenues over $10 billion
Oct 01, 2017 – Oregon based companies with revenues of over $1 billion
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Sep 30, 2017 – US population growth (%) by state, 2013-2016
Sep 29, 2017 – Top US industries by growth, 2012-2015
Sep 28, 2017 – no chart
Sep 27, 2017 – San Francisco metro growth by select industries, 2012-2015
Sep 26, 2017 – San Jose metro growth by select sectors, 2012-2015
Sep 25, 2017 – Austin metro growth rates by select industries, 2012-2015
Sep 24, 2017 – Growth by Industry in Seattle Metro (King county, WA) and Vancouver (Clark county, WA; Portland Metro), 2012-2015
Sep 23, 2017 – Growth by Industry in Portland Metro (Multnomah & Washington counties), 2012-2015
Sep 22, 2017 – Earning growth (%) by industries for Oregon, Washington & California in Q1, 2017
Sep 21, 2017 – Median 1-,2-,3-BDR rent prices in Denver, Seattle & Los Angeles, Aug 2017
Sep 20, 2017 – Median rent prices in Silicon Valley for 1-,2-,3-bedroom, Aug 2017
Sep 19, 2017 – Estimated Gross State Product for US states, 2017
Sep 18, 2017 – Gross Metro Product for top 25 US metros, 2016
Sep 17, 2017 – Median 1-bedroom & 2-bedroom rent prices for Austin, Denver & Portland Metros, July 2017
Sep 16, 2017 – Median rent in San Francisco, July 2017
Sep 15, 2017 – Median rent in San Jose, July 2017
Sep 14, 2017 – Rate of inflation in India, 2014-2017
Sep 13, 2017 – Circulation of US dollar (2011) and Indian rupees (Mar 2017)
Sep 12, 2017 – Amount of US dollar in circulation (1984-2017)
Sep 11, 2017 – US annual population growth by race (2010-2016)
Sep 10, 2017 – US population by race (2010-2016)
Sep 09, 2017 – no chart
Sep 08, 2017 – Digitization in India, total transactions
Sep 07, 2017 – Cash circulation in India post demonetization
Sep 06, 2017 – Foreign direct investment to India (2012-2017)
Sep 05, 2017 – no chart
Sep 04, 2017 – US productivity change (percent, non-farm businesses, by year, 2000-2016)
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
Aug 31, 2017 – Projected growth in fastest growing occupations, 2014-2024
Aug 30, 2017 – US median salaries for fastest growing occupations in next 10 years, 2016
Aug 29, 2017 – US household – time spent in daily chores, 2016
Aug 28, 2017 – US household leisure & sports time, 2016
Aug 27, 2017 – Peak earning vs age, 2010-2016
Aug 26, 2017 – Price change for TVs, Computer, Internet, Cable & Software, 1996-2015
Aug 25, 2017 – Number of rental units in Silicon Forest, Tanasbourne, Portland Metro
Aug 24, 2017 – Vacancy rates, for rental & homeowner houses (1980-2015)
Aug 23, 2017 – Rate of homeownership & number of renters, 1990-2015
Aug 22, 2017 – Comparison of $100k with mortgage vs S&P vs rent, $100k from Jan 2010 to Jun 2017
Aug 21, 2017 – no chart
Aug 20, 2017 – Construction productivity vs other industries (The Economist)
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
Aug 15, 2017 – Worth of money in parallel worlds (long term trend), starting with $100k in Jun 1996
Aug 14, 2017 – Worth of money in parallel worlds, value of $100k invested in Jan 2010 worth in Jun 2017
Aug 13, 2017 – US consumer price index (cost-of-living index or inflation) – (2007-2017)
Aug 12, 2017 – US unemployment rate & wage growth (2010-2017)
Aug 11, 2017 – US home price change by state (1976-2017 & 2016-2017)
Aug 10, 2017 – Inflation plotted with US Treasury & Mortgage rates (2010-2016)
Aug 9, 2017 – US Treasury and Mortgage rates (2010-2016)
Aug 8, 2017 – Household credit score versus time (2001-2016)
Aug 7, 2017 – Monthly mortgage payment across key US metro regions (2012-2016)
Aug 6, 2017 – Good time to buy or good time to sell? Fannie Mae’s monthly Home Purchase Sentiment Index (R)
Aug 5, 2017 – Buy versus Rent – Trulia’s calculator (Apr 2017)
Aug 4, 2017 – Annual change in US home prices across top 20 cities (May 2011- May 2017)
Aug 3, 2017 – Best time to get a deal: time period when best discounts are available in housing market
Aug 2, 2017 – Clark County, Washington state (Portland Metro area, OR) single family home prices (2012-2017)
Aug 1, 2017 – Multnomah County (Portland Metro area, OR) single family home prices (2012-2017)
July 31, 2017 – Washington County (Portland Metro area, OR) single family home prices (2012-2017)
July 28, 2017 – US home prices 1890-present
July 27, 2017 – Median house price for Portland Metro neighborhoods
July 26, 2017 – Average rent for Portland Metro region
July 25, 2017 – Path of total solar eclipse through Oregon
July 24, 2017 – Portland metro area household income by region