Postdoc pay

[Laurel S. Bernstein]

In article <3nqv8u$3g9 at riscsm.scripps.edu> SLForsburg <susan_forsburg at qm.salk.edu> writes:
>From: SLForsburg <susan_forsburg at qm.salk.edu>
>Subject: Re: Postdoc pay
>Date: 28 Apr 1995 14:49:02 GMT

>BrandonVt at aol.com wrote:
>>  While I really
>>enjoy the work I am doing in my postdoc, I was dismayed to
>>learn the salary I would be paid compared to what I would have 
>>expected as postdoc had I not changed fields.  I currently earn
>>$20,000 per  year with a benefits package that costs me $100
>>per month for health insurance.  

>This is about average.  The NIH starting rate for a new postdoc
>is about $18K.  Most of the private fellowships (ACS, Damon Runyon
>etc) pay on the order of $20-22 for the first year.  Often there
>is an incremental increase of about $1000/yr during the course of
>the fellowship.  On NIH scale, you won't approach the upper $20s
>until you have 4-5 years of experience post-PhD.   

And don't forget that some places don't even pay NIH scale. I postdoc'd at a 
well-respected private institute  (not Salk, the one down the road from 
there!) and was paid several thousand below NIH scale. That stunned me- I 
thought NIH was bare minimum and most places supplemented it.
I should mention that this was *not* the reason I left research 4 yr ago, but 
incidentally in doing so I doubled my salary overnight and am now making 3x 
what I made as a postdoc. But since I am infinitely happier (still in science, 
just not at the bench) the money is just icing on the cake.
Laurel