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To my memory, you're not mistaken, but as I recall the numbers are in the very low six figures if that, but it's certainly an big issue for people considering t
by hga 10y ago
To my memory, you're not mistaken, but as I recall the numbers are in the very low six figures if that, but it's certainly an big issue for people considering the science route including a Ph.D. and postdoc work before trying to land a permanent job.
In fact, it was the nation's science policy establishment that started this whole mess in the late '80s or so when they apparently decided they were paying too much money for scientific labor in universities and akin non-profit research institutions, as I recall the National Science Foundation got the ball rolling,
(But my focus on that "industry" back then might have caused me to overlook the same in the E and T in STEM, and certainly "consulting" and the safe tax harbor for it were a very big issue at the same time and cost me my job then, see Section 1706 of the Tax Reform Act of 1986, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_Reform_Act_of_1986#Tax_treatment_of_technical_service_firms_employing_certain_professionals https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_Reform_Act_of_1986#Tax_tre... .)
- biocomputation 10y ago>> Tax Reform Act of 1986, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_Reform_Act_of_1986#Tax_tre.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_Reform_Act_of_1986#Tax_tre.... .) Fascinating. I hadn't seen that before.
- hga 10y agoWhile it's debatably correct policy (e.g. see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permatemp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permatemp and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Microsoft#Labor_practices https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Microsoft#Labor_p...), good old Pat Moynihan inserted it into the bill in the dead of night with no discussion, for the benefit of few big IT bodyshops (IBM wasn't mentioned at the time), since we all had to use them going forward, giving them more than a small cut of our compensation. Or just work directly for The Man, one company I worked for in '93-4, for a specific, time limited contract they were fulfilling (a cool NASA science Data Distribution Facility), had their default body shop refuse to hire me for some reason, so I was made a no/small? benefits hourly worker. Anyway, it suddenly smashed the working setup of many, many technical professionals, and very seldom for the better. And rather strange to single us out, yes, an indirect bill of attainder perhaps? Further anyway, starting in the late '80s national/Federal public policy turned irredeemably hostile towards us, and you can see it in the static real wages we've earned since around that period. We may be viewed as essential, but....