From the NSF's Survey of Earned Doctorates, the latest data, which is for the class of graduates during the 2018 calendar year. First, the demographic data (tab 58):
All doctorate recipients (number): 2,810
Sex (%): Male 62.0 / Female 38.0 / Unknown 0.0
Citizenship (%): U.S. citizen or permanent resident 60.9, Temporary visa holder 36.4, Unknown 2.7
Marital status (%): Never married 43.6, Married 34.8, Marriage-like relationship 10.5, Separated, divorced, widowed 1.4, Unknown 9.7
Bachelor's in same field as doctorate (%): 72.8
Master's earned (%): 36.1
Age at doctorate (median years): 28.9
Time to doctorate (median years): From bachelor's 6.3, From graduate school start 5.8, From doctoral program start 5.3
Now, their destinations (tab 59):
Definite postgraduation study: 924 (36% of respondents to this question)
Definite employment: 772 (30% of respondents to this question)
Seeking employment or study: 830 (32% of respondents to this question)
Other: 66 (3% of respondents to this question)
Definite postgraduation study (%): Postdoc fellowship or research associateship 96.1, Other or unknown 3.9
Definite employment (%): Academe 19.3, Government 4.9, Industry or business 70.3, Nonprofit organization 1.7, Other or unknown 3.8
Primary activity (%): R&D 67.6, Teaching 17.3, Management or administration 3.8, Professional services 10.7, Other 0.5
Median starting salaries for those employed (does not count postdoctoral appointments) (tab 49):
Total: $85,000
Academe: $51,250
Industry or business: $95,000
Government: $72,000
Nonprofit organization: $58,500
Other or unknown: $54,500
I'll echo one comment from last year; industry seems high and government seems low.
ReplyDelete$95k as starting salary for PhD grads in industry... that's bloody high. Maybe compensated for by the scarcity of those positions?
ReplyDeleteI'm from Australia, where my starting salary post-PhD was about $41k USD. Maybe I should move to the US...