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Published online 28 November 2007 | Nature | doi:10.1038/450597a
Graphic Detail: The real value of a scientist's wage
Researchers' spending power is not what it seems.
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Sir - Your analysis of the research scientist's wage is interesting, but does not serve as a comparison of relative wages. For example, in your analysis Australia and the United States have very similar wages. This may be true on average, but there are enormous discrepancies depending on the career stage. For example at the Australian National University (ANU) in Australia the lowest pay-scale for a research scientist is A$54 252 (US$48 260). The NIH base salary for a research scientist is US$36 996. This 25% reduction in pay is even greater when it is considered that the average age of PhD graduation is 32 in Australia while it is 36 in the United States. Taking into account wage increases, the base wage for a 36 year old research scientist is A$63 323 (US$56 332) in Australia and $36 996 in the United States - nearly 50% greater in Australia without even taking into consideration the increased work expectancy in American institutions. At the upper end of the range, the ANU academic pay tops out at A$135 887 (US$120 875), while the US academic pay scale continues many times higher. It would be of much greater use if your comparison was broken down into early, middle and late career stages. Regards, Adrian Liston. The Australian National University & The University of Washington.
I am glad the European Commission produced this report. http://ec.europa.eu/eracareers/pdf/final_report.pdf This kind of data is what I have been looking for. See, for example, http://scratchpad.wikia.com/wiki/Nutrition_Facts I would welcome continued monitoring of changes in future years.
Sir - I am surprised that the press release and the news item refer to the gross salary as the level of taxation differs dramatically between countries. Looking at the net salary after taxes, corrected for purchasing power (see report page 46, table 11), Switzerland becomes first, but then the UK, Netherlands and Israel follow at about the same level. On the other hand, formerly first ranked Austria as well as Germany lag behind the UK by 5-7k EU.
Look at Italy's meager offer to its own graduates. No wonder that so many escape the country. Of course this kind of news only make the headlines in Italy when an escaped brain living elsewhere for the past thirty or so years catches a Nobel, invariably heralded as an 'Italian Nobel'. Follows a piece on the brain drain, then a couple of tranquillising phrases and meaningless promises from the University/Research minister, then nothing happens and business as before. Sorry to say so, but this is what happens when science-ignorant, anti-science, humanities-graduates dominates the politics landscape.