Compensation in Life Sciences

“Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.” (Epictetus)

"Piled Higher and Deeper" by Jorge Cham, www.phdcomics.com

 

Renumeration in the Life Sciences

Can I fuse my passion for research with a worthwhile and financially secure living? This is one of the most gripping questions that researchers at all levels face when becoming part of an ever-growing global academic elite of dynamic, aspiring scientists.

More and more countries of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) are building up their higher education sectors. Science doctorates, post-docs, and principle investigators are key factors for the generation of wide-scale economic growth [1]. However, the question arises as to how we compensate life scientists for their academic excellence.

ACADEMIA PAYS UP TO 30% LESS THAN INDUSTRY

Taking a closer look at the importance of salaries in neuroscience becomes even more crucial in the light of global ‘over-production’ of science graduates [1]. Nowadays, scientists are increasingly being exploited as a cheap working force derived from a never-ending fountain of highly-skilled doctoral students and post-docs, allowing countries to develop their higher education system and general economy by paradoxically investing as little as possible into compensation of academics.

Salaries in Europe and the USA

The Scientist's 2014 web-based survey of compensation of life scientists gathered information from over 5334 individuals ranging from graduate students to professors in various life science sectors [2]. The survey revealed differences in income between different sectors, genders and institutions. European life scientists annually earn US$68,361 on average compared to US$99,011 in the US.

This regional discrepancy (in both academia and industry) is compounded by sector-specific differences in academia. Figures for academic neuroscientists in the US indicate an average salary of US$102,770, which is close to the average payment scale. Molecular biologists earn an average of US$77,970 and scientists working in drug discovery and development are more highly compensated – up to US$143,544.

Those working in academia make 30% less income in both Europe and the US compared to industry employees. Interestingly, researchers in the US working in specific areas in both academia and industry, such as genomics and biostatistics, had a 13% higher pay compared to the preceding year and compared to their colleagues in other disciplines. This indicates that employment in specific sectors with larger demand tends to be a ‘gold mine’ – that is, until the supply of new graduates reaches saturation. The vicious cycle continues because the demand for new graduates is being dictated by the amount of money (from research grants) available for paying them. This allows group leaders to recruit as much cheap labor as they want without considering the fact that not enough senior positions are available in the job market to keep these people employed in academia in the long run [3].

MEN ARE STILL PAID FAR MORE THAN WOMEN

Other fundamental factors affecting life scientists' salaries are age and experience, consisting of a leap in salary by up to 20% for every additional 5 years of experience. Remarkably, gender is still another dismaying aspect of salary inequality in the life sciences in the highly-developed countries of the 21st century. The survey revealed that European male scientists in high positions earn up to US$13,000 more than their female counterparts – a situation which is even worse in the US, where the discrepancy can reach up to US$28,000 [2].

Intellectual Freedom vs. Lifestyle

Looking at future compensation in the life sciences, we will probably continue to face a rather grim picture of ‘brain drain’ from academia to other institutions or to countries with a smaller salary gap [4]. Insufficient compensation and/or insecure job positions currently discourage scientists from staying in academia (only 6% of PhD students do stay) [5].

Promotion of progressive PhD programs that equip researchers with transferable skills that can be applied not only in academia but also in the wider job market is nowadays a pivotal part of German scientific training [6]. This increases the chances of circumventing the bottleneck problem of occupational demand due to educational ‘over-supply’ of researchers that ultimately leads to dwindling salaries in the academic life sciences.

Academic scientists at all levels have to face the reality that salaries in the future will most probably continue being unstable and less lucrative than in other sectors. It remains the individual decision of every scientist as to how to weigh academic intellectual freedom with monetary compensation.  

[1] Cyranoski et al., Nature, 2011
[2] http://bit.ly/1rZ8nGD
[3] http://bit.ly/1OZQ2IT 
[4] Jacobs, EMBO Rep, 2013
[5] http://bit.ly/20Ehktz
[6] Shen, Nature, 2013

by Meron Maricos, PhD Student AG Kettenmann
this article originally appeared 2015 in CNS Volume 8, Issue 4, Money on My Mind.