When? How was the economy when you chose your career? Today, in a very uncertain economy with lots of parents not finding work (western Canada), high school kid

When? How was the economy when you chose your career? Today, in a very uncertain economy with lots of parents not finding work (western Canada), high school kids look at research as a hobby that won't allow them to support a family. I pushed my daughter to go to a two-day university bio discovery thing, she absolutely loved it, but said that all the research assistants confirm they can't afford to live and most of them are thinking of dropping into the industry so they can stop asking their parents to help paying the rent.