Life scientists in the United States have it good, according to The Scientist’s 2013 Salary Survey. US researchers across academia, industry, and government earn an average of nearly $96,000 per year in total compensation, including base salary, bonuses, and other income, compared with a European average of just $66,700. Life scientists in Canada come in right in the middle, at $78,200, while researchers in India lag far behind, earning an average of just $11,200. These salary disparities, while no surprise to those in the life sciences, could explain the oft-cited “brain drain,” which has seen foreign researchers flock to the U.S. in search of good jobs with ample compensation.
Dramatic budget cuts in the past few years, however, may make US academia less of a paradise. It may even drive some researchers in the life sciences to venture into higher-paying industry jobs, says John Curtis, director of research and public policy at the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). Alternatively, budding scientists looking for the best-paying jobs might steer their careers towards more lucrative fields, such as pharmacology and physiology, which pay notably more than molecular biology and genetics, according to this year’s data. Gender differences in pay are still rife in the life sciences as well, even for equivalent positions and amounts of labor.
Below we break down the data by geographic region, career stage, specialty, sector, and gender. Visit (here) for more ...
