Biology salaries - do you think they will spike at some point ?

[RufusDawes]

Biology salaries - do you think they will spike at some point ?

I've been curious about this for a while now. I get the feeling that one day, they certainly will.

 

[BioCore]

I will not necessarily say that there will be a salary spike for Biology careers in general but maybe some specific ones. The reason is that some of those Biology careers are just plain useless when it comes to the general public. As far as I have seen, anything that has to do with human life and Biology is the field that gets paid well - think Medicine, Pharmacology, Biotechnology.

Which is why I think such jobs will be getting salary raises or more funding once this economic crisis passes us by.

But if you are asking about Biology careers like the study of animals, or evolutionary Biology, forget it - that is unless university suddenly decide to get charitable.

 

[maverick_starstrider]

Isn't Bio extraordinarily saturated? Isn't like the average pay for a bio PhD after uni like $30,000? Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Astronuc]

Bio-technoloyg is a big industry.

http://www.bio2008.org/ - Apparently about 22,000 people will attend the conference.

I got this invitation yesterday -

The Advance Life Sciences Network invites you to our first quarterly networking reception for 2008. Join us for a great night of good wine and the chance to meet other Australians working in Life Sciences in the region.

One of the guests at the reception is one of two winners of the 2008 Advancing BioBusiness Award.

I think salaries are quite good, certainly more the $30 K for a PhD, but it will depend on what area in biology/biochemsitry/bio-engineering that one pursues.

 

[maverick_starstrider]

Here:

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos047.htm#outlook

That seems to go over it quite well.

 

[Jerpoint]

I have been getting the impression that the biotechnology field has become a lot like engineering. Your outlook, salary and job security seem to depend on your specialty and skill set.

The last couple of years, I have seriously looked at making a jump from engineering into the biological sciences. Unfortunately, most of my friends in the biological sciences have strongly discouraged me from doing that. There seems to be a lot of frustrated and disappointed people in that field. Those that pursued academia ended up spending a decade doing post-doc work before landing a permanent position. Those that went into industry often complain that they don’t do any real research anymore. Their jobs are built around securing funding or generating documentation.

I think the salaries are good for the people who succeed in entering the field, but I think a lot of people are forced to give up and find work in other fields.

 

[RufusDawes]

Bio-technoloyg is a big industry.

http://www.bio2008.org/ - Apparently about 22,000 people will attend the conference.

I got this invitation yesterday -
One of the guests at the reception is one of two winners of the 2008 Advancing BioBusiness Award.

I think salaries are quite good, certainly more the $30 K for a PhD, but it will depend on what area in biology/biochemsitry/bio-engineering that one pursues.

Bad rep among students.

Transparency of the industry (where are the jobs, how much do they pay ?) for all I know PHD's could be on 200K.

They have products but I have not heard of much demand.

All this suggests possibility for a spike.

The secrecy part in particular.

Reminds me of computers, just chugging along nicely, then BAM someone invents microsoft.

 

[Moonbear]

Isn't Bio extraordinarily saturated? Isn't like the average pay for a bio PhD after uni like $30,000? Correct me if I'm wrong.

Unless you're talking about post-doc salaries, which are limited by federal funding sources (and still start out higher than $30,000...$30,000 is closer to what the graduate student stipends are), no, salaries for PhDs are much higher than that. As for saturation, depends on the field of biology. I haven't commented on this thread before, because there's no good answer to it. Job opportunities and salary scales are vastly different if you're an ecologist studying the field behavior of some lizard in a rain forest than if you're a cell biologist studying cancer mechanisms.

 

[Indeed]

Isn't Bio extraordinarily saturated? Isn't like the average pay for a bio PhD after uni like $30,000? Correct me if I'm wrong.

Correction, salaries are $34,000. Wink wink.
Not trying to be funny! I myself am a Biology major!