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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I used to work at a DC university in public health about three years ago.  They hired assistant profs at $85-$95 and most with tenure weren't earning much above $115k.  A few rockstars out of many earned closer to $200k.  The state research university I worked at in the midwest had tenured people at the END of their careers earning $120k max (most were in the $80k range).

You have to really love the subject matter (or like not having to dress a particular way), because you'll never be rich being a professor.    [/quote]

I should add that the state research university I worked/studied at was in the economics department.  So the idea that fresh new grads come out at $125-175k as assistant professors is laughable. The people I went to grad school with now have tenure and teach at middling public universities.  They earn about $100k. [/quote]

Picking a state university I have no affiliation with, the University of Illinois last published a [url=http://www.trustees.uillinois.edu/trustees/resources/historical-files/GrayBook2016-midyear.pdf]comprehensive list of faculty salaries[/url] in 2016.  At the time, there were ten assistant professors of economics, all making between $130K and $133K.  The top full professor makes $243K.  Higher-ranked departments and those at private universities pay more.

Your anecdotes to the contrary are not relevant.[/quote]

And your cherry picking a random school to support your point isn't really relevant either.  You do realize there are THOUSANDS of universities with economics professors.  Illinois is #29. The number of universities who pay less than Illinois is probably greater than the number who pay more.  [/quote]

I will represent to you based on personal experience on both sides of the economics job market that Illinois’ starting salary is typical for state universities, and that elite programs pay much more.  The private sector (e.g., litigation consulting) can pay more than $200K to fresh PhDs at the high end. The low end of the profession (“directional” state schools without PhD programs, poor-middling liberal arts colleges) indeed pay less, although starting at $80-90K at such a place is entirely reasonable, and they top out slightly into six figures.

Outside of economics, some fields pay even more, some about the same, and some much less.  Other posters are correct that options outside of academia are strongly correlated with academic salary.[/quote]

Oh hey Mr. Economist! Did you know there is actually ... data on this?  Median Salary nationwide for post-secondary economics teachers is $98k. of course this varies a lot regionally. In Virginia the median is 90K and the low is 41k and the high is 200k.  So to say that 100K plus is "typical" is clearly incorrect.  https://www.onetonline.org/link/details/25-1063.00
  [/quote]

[url=https://www.aeaweb.org/content/file?id=869]This[/url] has detailed survey information on salaries for new econ PhDs in the 2015-2016 market (tables 6-7, figures 6-7).  Per table 7, all PhD-granting departments paid an average of $121K, a min of 83K, and a max of $182K to new PhDs.  Top 30 institutions paid an average of $140K, a min of $110K, and a max of $182K.  Bachelors and masters granting universities paid an average of $89K, a min of $67K, and a max of $120K to fresh PhDs. The last group of jobs includes both top liberal arts schools (which would be at the top of the distribution) and places you have never heard of (which would be at the bottom).  My experience has been that while the places you have never heard of are perfectly fine jobs, they are competing for the bottom of the distribution of new PhDs, i.e. competent teachers from lower-ranked PhD programs who are not promising researchers.

Your survey includes anyone who describes themselves as an "economics teacher."  This includes lecturers, adjuncts, and community college instructors.  These positions often do not even require PhDs, and invariably require only teaching (which is easy, and so does not pay well) and no research (which is hard, and pays very well).  That said, even ignoring this bottom segment of the profession, your data indicate that half of all people who consider themselves to be economics teachers make more than $100K, so I'm not sure what point you see your link as advancing.
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