Most underpaid and overpaid vocations

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around identifying vocations that are perceived as overpaid or underpaid, with participants sharing their opinions on various professions. The scope includes personal perspectives on salary fairness across different fields, touching on both technical and non-technical vocations.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Exploratory

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants suggest that engineers are underpaid, highlighting their crucial role in society.
  • Others argue that senior managers, CEOs, and cosmetic surgeons are overpaid, citing disproportionate salaries compared to their contributions.
  • A participant mentions that government workers in certain roles are overpaid, while acknowledging that not all government employees fit this description.
  • Several participants identify teachers, nurses, and social workers as underpaid, emphasizing the importance of their work.
  • Orthodontists are pointed out as overpaid, with a specific mention of their earnings relative to general dentists.
  • Some participants express that athletes, musicians, and actors are not overpaid when considering the revenue they generate.
  • Venture capitalists are described as overpaid by one participant, who shares a personal experience related to this view.
  • There is mention of physical labor jobs, such as janitors and construction workers, being underpaid, reflecting a broader concern for labor equity.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a variety of opinions on which vocations are overpaid or underpaid, with no clear consensus reached. Multiple competing views remain regarding specific professions and the justification of their salaries.

Contextual Notes

Some claims are based on personal experiences or regional perspectives, which may not universally apply. The discussion includes a mix of anecdotal evidence and subjective opinions, reflecting diverse viewpoints on the value of different vocations.

Loren Booda
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Which vocations are most overpaid, and which are most underpaid?
 
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Why the angry face? For overpaid I would say Hawaii, never been there: it is so expensive to go there.
 
vacations in space are the most overpriced, shortest and most risky vacations there are, all for a great view and some weightlessness, for a fraction of that money you could go to a country like colombia where the prices are low and the coffee flows, then again it is kinda risky too...but seriously i find that great deals in vacations are in eastern europe (except Prague).
 
vocations, not vacations!

Underpaid: engineers (they really do make the world go round)

Overpaid: EU farmers, especially big French ones (why do the voters in EU countries put up with such unjustified, uneconomic subsidies - via the CAP?).
 
Nereid,
vocations, not vacations!
 
Vocation [?] euhh *looks around for a dictionary*
 
Overpaid: Senior managers, CEOs, cosmetic surgeons, real estate agents, US farmers (from an Australian perspective).

Underpaid: Teachers, nurses, social workers.
 
errr...my bad.

Overpaid: Government workers, not people that actually make the country run but the people such as in licencing, immagration..etc.. one of the most lazy people ever, never work 110%, bounus's for nothing, always late, never care...

Underpaid: Engineers.
 
Overpaid: Athletes, singers, actors, CEO's, etc.

Underpaid: Scientists, engineers, teachers
 
  • #10
I have some friends in the Automotive Industry (having been in Detroit) and they say that those people who order other people around are getting grossly overpaid with crazy yearly bonusses..
 
  • #11
Underpaid= Me

Overpaid = Everyone else
 
  • #12
Most overpaid... Orthodontists
For a 35-hour workweek, orthodontists earn a median $350,000 a year, according to the Journal of Clinical Orthodontics. General dentists, meanwhile, earn about half as much working 39 hours a week on average, in a much dirtier job.

The difference in their training isn't like that of a heart surgeon vs. a family-practice doctor. It's a mere two years, and a vastly rewarding investment if you're among the chosen: U.S. dental schools have long been criticized for keeping orthodontists in artificially low supply to keep their income up.

Most underpaid...nurses, social workers and teachers.
 
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  • #13
There was an article about this recently. Top Ten most overpaid jobs i the U.S.

http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B954AA053-F953-43F3-BBC8-63D351A3BF2A%7D&siteid=google&dist=google
 
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  • #14
Originally posted by that_guy
There was an article about this recently. Top Ten most overpaid jobs i the U.S.

http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B954AA053-F953-43F3-BBC8-63D351A3BF2A%7D&siteid=google&dist=google
Thanks for providing the link. I had seen it once and remembered its reference to the dentists but had forgotten to save the link. The only thing I would disagree with are the Longshoreman (not the clerks doing the data entry). It is one of the most dangerous physical jobs (lots of injuries and deaths) and long hours (over 24 hours of brutal labor sometimes) when perishable shipment has to be unloaded during docking. Their career is short lived so they aren't making these salaries to a nice and cozy retirment of 65. I believe PBS did a nice commentary on them once. As for the specialty doctors. The only ones I know that make a million a year are either the heart surgeons who invented and pattoned many of the artificial heart valves, heart, stents etc. but are still working 100 hours a week or plastic surgeons and anesthiosologists. However, since both have malpractice premiums in some states between half a million or 700,000, the numbers may be inflated.
 
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  • #15
I really don't think atheletes/musicians/actors are overpayed considering the amount of profit they generate. If you help sell out 50,000 seats at $30 each, or sell 4 million records or your movie grosses 17 million in the first weekend, you deserve a big cut of the profits, afterall, the people payed to see the atheletes/musicians/actors. The people behind the scenes should definitely get more than they do, but atheletes/musicians/actors generate such ridiculous amounts of money that if they didn't get the crazy money they did, the ceo's of the companies that employ them would just get more.

As for underpayed, practically all physical labor work, janitors, construction workers etc.
 
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  • #16
Overpaid: Venture Capitalists.

It's absolutely rediculous what these vultures make. I should know since I worked for a failed startup in Silicon Valley funded by these...did I say vultures?

Underpaid: Teachers, Nurses

Cheers.
 
  • #17
awsoem way to open up the thread...

I think servign is it's hardly a skill and you can make like 200 a night or more at a resturant. Unless youdotn consider it a vocation
 

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