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Science PhDs Have Very Low Jobless Rates

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Re: Science PhDs Have Very Low Jobless Rates

#4
So P(jobless|PhD) = 0.017, whereas P(jobless) = 0.066

According to Baye's Theorem, the P(PhD|jobless) = P(jobless|PhD)*P(PhD)/P(jobless)

Where according to [1], P(PhD) = 0.01 (for all PhDs) so assuming roughly half are science, P(PhD) = 0.005, and we get

P(PhD|jobless) = 0.0013, or 0.13%, which means that roughly 1 out of every 1000 jobless people has a PhD.

[1]http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/QTTable?_bm=y&-geo_...

Re: Science PhDs Have Very Low Jobless Rates

#5
post #2

Yes ... us scientists have an awesome life. We get to implant cameras in the backs of our head ( http://gothamist.com/2010/12/03/video_photos_nyu_prof_instal... ). Truly the good life!!

That dude is an art professor if I recall right from the posting the other day.

Re: Science PhDs Have Very Low Jobless Rates

#9
post #4

So P(jobless|PhD) = 0.017, whereas P(jobless) = 0.066 According to Baye's Theorem, the P(PhD|jobless) = P(jobless|PhD)*P(PhD)/P(jobless) Where according to [1], P(PhD) = 0.01 (for all PhDs) so assuming roughly half are science, P(PhD) = 0.005, and we get P(PhD|jobless) = 0.0013, or 0.13%, which means that roughly 1 out of every 1000 jobless people has a PhD. [1] http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/QTTable?_bm=y&-geo…

Bayes' theorem states that P(A|B) = P(B|A) * P(A) / P(B), so in this case it says P(PhD|jobless) = P(jobless|PhD) * P(PhD) / P(jobless). It seems that you stated it incorrectly but used the correct version in the computation (the incorrect gives 0.2244).

Re: Science PhDs Have Very Low Jobless Rates

#10

What proportion of those jobs are below minimum wage post-doc positions? The unemployment rate for panhandlers is also very low, very few of them face redundancy

What proportion of those jobs are below minimum wage post-doc positions?

Probably not very many. Typical postdoc pay is $40-60k/year depending on where the job is located ($40k in Urbana-Champaigne, $60k NYC or Chicago).

That's about 2-4x lower than what the postdoc could get in the outside world, but it's a far cry from minimum wage.

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