4 ms·

Canada doesn't pay half as well as US when it comes to research in STEM. Every country has great talent right now, except US has the money.

SubiculumCode 9y ago
If there was money then why are there not enough research positions open?
- vostok 9y ago
  I don't think this is a productive game to play. If there's not enough money then why is academic pay better in the US than almost anywhere in the developed world?
- robotresearcher 9y ago
  Not enough for what?
devrandomguy 9y ago
When the last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, the last river poisoned, only then will we realize that one cannot eat money. We don't have to pay as well, someone else will always be willing to ravage their own country to beat us at that game. We just have to not screw up the local society and environment as badly as the superpowers.
- vostok 9y ago
  Sorry, can you flesh this out a little more? I'm not quite grasping how paying academics high wages is ravaging our country.
  - devrandomguy 9y ago
    What I mean, is that it does not really matter that Canada is not the highest paying country in the world, because money is not the only factor in determining where academics choose to live. If we can offer an environment that is conducive to intellectual work (low financial stress, spiritually uplifting environment, a culture of mutual assistance, minimal neurotoxins in the food, water and air, good schools for their kids, freedom of thought and expression, minimal discrimination, no threat of war, etc) then academics will try to come here despite the fact that they won't be as financially wealthy in the global market. We can offer many of those features simply by leaving the huge local ecosystems intact and accessible, and by avoiding changes that cause parts of the population to become desperate.
robotresearcher 9y ago
That's true. The uptick in Canadian academic hiring is about something other than money, I'm guessing.
- flamedoge 9y ago
  probably canadians going back home because ... family.
  - robotresearcher 9y ago
    That's a roughly steady state flow, all else being equal, and wouldn't explain the change.
swuecho 9y ago
US postdoc pay is around 40K. Cannot believe Canada pay around 20K.
- robotresearcher 9y ago
  Depends on field. I paid my last postdoc $90K CAD ($72K USD). It's hard to find good postdocs in AI with the job market right now. For biologists or other oversupplied PhDs, salaries are much lower.
  - swuecho 9y ago
    I guess both US and Canda pay simliar to postdoc, even in China, because all of them are low.

SubiculumCode 9y ago

If there was money then why are there not enough research positions open?

vostok 9y ago
I don't think this is a productive game to play. If there's not enough money then why is academic pay better in the US than almost anywhere in the developed world?
robotresearcher 9y ago
Not enough for what?

devrandomguy 9y ago

When the last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, the last river poisoned, only then will we realize that one cannot eat money. We don't have to pay as well, someone else will always be willing to ravage their own country to beat us at that game. We just have to not screw up the local society and environment as badly as the superpowers.

vostok 9y ago
Sorry, can you flesh this out a little more? I'm not quite grasping how paying academics high wages is ravaging our country.
- devrandomguy 9y ago
  What I mean, is that it does not really matter that Canada is not the highest paying country in the world, because money is not the only factor in determining where academics choose to live. If we can offer an environment that is conducive to intellectual work (low financial stress, spiritually uplifting environment, a culture of mutual assistance, minimal neurotoxins in the food, water and air, good schools for their kids, freedom of thought and expression, minimal discrimination, no threat of war, etc) then academics will try to come here despite the fact that they won't be as financially wealthy in the global market. We can offer many of those features simply by leaving the huge local ecosystems intact and accessible, and by avoiding changes that cause parts of the population to become desperate.

robotresearcher 9y ago

That's true. The uptick in Canadian academic hiring is about something other than money, I'm guessing.

flamedoge 9y ago
probably canadians going back home because ... family.
- robotresearcher 9y ago
  That's a roughly steady state flow, all else being equal, and wouldn't explain the change.

swuecho 9y ago

US postdoc pay is around 40K. Cannot believe Canada pay around 20K.

robotresearcher 9y ago
Depends on field. I paid my last postdoc $90K CAD ($72K USD). It's hard to find good postdocs in AI with the job market right now. For biologists or other oversupplied PhDs, salaries are much lower.
- swuecho 9y ago
  I guess both US and Canda pay simliar to postdoc, even in China, because all of them are low.