Every day for 20 years, PhD students would come into employment counselor Melanie Sinche’s office and ask the same question: Would their doctorate degrees actually contribute anything to the economy? Researchers looked at where PhD students from eight large Midwestern universities ended up in the…

Engineers, mathematicians, and computer scientists were the highest earners, pulling in an annual salary of more than $65,000 on average straight out of their doctorates — and often another $10,000 to $20,000 more if they pursued careers in industry.

Life scientists, however, made substantially less. Biologists and researchers in health disciplines were more likely to do postdocs — and this was reflected in their average salaries: only about $40,000, but another $10,000 or so in an industry job.