Capitalism. I know of no “critically vital” position that is grossly under compensated.
Everyone deserves a 25% increase in pay 
I invite you to explore the world of social services-focused nonprofits…
5 Likes
Not exactly. Wages are determined by supply and demand, not anyone’s values. There is a vast glut of individuals qualified as adjunct instructors, far in excess of the demand for them, hence low wages. Few qualify as AI specialists despite great demand, hence high wages.
1 Like
“We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.”- from Dead Poet’s Society.
3 Likes
Nursing- grossly under compensated. Social workers- grossly under compensated. CEO’s at banks- grossly overcompensated. Put it this way, if every bank executive disappeared tomorrow- life would go on.
1 Like
And when tenured positions are converted to adjunct positions upon a tenured faculty member’s retirement, it is also determined by administrative policy determining value of the labor, often relative to the value of the administrators who are setting the policy…
Supply and demand at work, yet again
1 Like
I touched on this earlier. The Duke article is referencing primary major. Total majors including secondary majors show a similar type of decline, but often not quite as steep. However, the number of humanities majors with exactly 0 students is often quite different, if you include both primary and secondary majors. Some specific numbers are below for 2012 → 2024 Duke grads.
History (2012 → 2024)
78 primary majors → 11 primary majors (7x decrease)
99 total majors → 16 total majors (6x decrease)
English (2012 → 2024)
70 primary majors → 19 primary majors (4x decrease)
83 total majors → 29 total majors (3x decrease)
Classical Civilizations (2012 → 2024)
6 primary majors → 1 primary major
8 total majors → 1 total major
Music (2012 → 2024)
4 primary majors → 0 primary majors
6 total majors → 3 total majors
Computer Science (2012 → 2024)
26 primary majors → 274 primary majors (11x increase)
42 total majors → 422 total majors (10x increase)
Consequently, his very real degree in History will not be reported in his university’s CDS.
IPEDS federal reporting includes information about both primary and secondary majors. Many colleges publish their own stats that include both primary and secondary major, like the Duke ones above. The information is available.
4 Likes
It isn’t supply and demand when someone is making a biased decision on the price. it is a closed ecosystem where the market is not determining pricing but a “biased” position of power.
Can you give an example of that? What is the closed ecosystem?
Nurse wages have gone up substantially due to decreased supply ( retirement) and increased demand ( post covid) for those with that specialized skill set.
While I agree that CEO salaries are ridiculous, that is a tiny microsection of the labor force and not reflective of most.
1 Like
Pay levels are largely determined by the values of those who have the money to hire and those who offer their labor. Of course, the relative power in the marketplace determines whose values are more influential.
(And yes, one’s values as they affect the labor market can be influenced by other economic interactions.)
1 Like
In 20 years, maybe shorter, people will look back at the irony. Those in STEM will be the ones creating the tools of their own redundancy and demise. AI is not going to eliminate the nurse or social worker or teacher but, the programmer, and likely even the doctor.
Supply and demand. People are compensated not based on what they (or we) think is fair, but on what the market will bear. This is life. Don’t kill the messenger (please).
“It’s a hard knock life for us”
-Annie
1 Like
Not in the US. If hiring were " values-based" we would expect far more differentiation of wages within any given profession or industry. Employers will offer the lowest level of wage to acquire the skill set necessary to benefit the company-when there are many with that skill set ( social workers), competition among workers will decrease that salary accordingly.
The highly skilled, hard to replace employees ( say, commercial pilots) will successfully demand better wages and conditions than their comparatively low-skilled, easily replaced colleagues( flight attendants)-not because United “values” their work more, but because they can successfully do so
Timing is everything.
I would not bet on that.
2 Likes
“Values” in this context means that the employee is willing to pay $x for someone to do job y. It does not necessarily mean that it will pay widely different amounts to different employees doing job y (although some may choose to do so for whatever reasons they have). Similarly, employees may have “values” the influence what jobs at what pay levels they will take, such as how convenient the commute is.
Ah, we are using " values" differently.
I would speculate that when there is a job opening for a high paid admin position, that it receives many more resumes/applications than does an opening for an adjunct position teaching philosophy (i.e. supply). Of course, I could be wrong about that, but I would be very surprised. And yet, arguably, teaching faculty are more mission-critical for a university than an administrator (i.e. demand).
There seems to be this distorted view that the US labor system is truly a free market system. The govt is involved in subsidies, taxation, regulation etc…which bend how the labor system works. As I learned many years ago, economic policy always benefits who writes it.
2 Likes
Unfortunately, I do think you are wrong about that. There appears to be a glut of holders of advanced degrees applying for teaching in any capacity at universities ( and even taking non-teaching post -doc fellowships and the like). I do not know how many qualified people with experience in higher ed admin are applying for similar jobs elsewhere, but there does not appear to be the same glut ( though a reasonably plentiful supply, thus keeping wages modest).