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Originally Posted by skies_
I think PhDs in the hard sciences do have low salaries. I was also surprised to read on the APA website that research psychologists start higher than clinical psychologists. I always thought most research jobs paid relatively low since they are so competitive.
There's funding issues, but sometimes I think its the fault of the researchers themselves, because universities can limit the slots in their programs if they wanted too I suppose. Just like medical doctors do, which keeps their salaries higher through their management of the supply side of physician labor.
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Most researchers don't work for universities, and all limiting places would do is reduce the amount of talent in the industry. I used to work in drug development ( and hope to again soon). The people in the industry generate the funding through the ideas they develop. Less people working on novel leads means less funding which means less new drugs which means less successful leads to make the money for the returns on the venture capital which makes venture capital less lucrative which means less funding.
We don't make great money (and I'm an RA, not a scientist), but most are comfortably middle class. And like a good therapist, a good scientist isn't in it for the money either.
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'...
At poor peace I sing
To you strangers (though song
Is a burning and crested act,
The fire of birds in
The world's turning wood,
For my sawn, splay sounds,)
...'
Dylan Thomas, Author's Prologue
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