Let’s consider earnings first. If a philosopher is someone
who studies philosophical issues for a living, then the occupation under
consideration is mostly pursued by the faculty of colleges and universities.
Earnings figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics are available for Philosophy
and Religion Teachers, Postsecondary: The estimate for May of 2014 was a median
annual wage of $65,540. If you assume that this average is being pulled up by
the religion teachers (which I doubt), you could suggest a somewhat lower
figure for the philosophy teachers alone and still have a figure that
considerably exceeds the annual earnings of Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and
Brazers: $36,720.
Some
fact-checkers have approached the issue from the understanding that Senator
Rubio was speaking about alternative postsecondary options for study, and
therefore “philosophers” should be construed to mean people who majored in philosophy, not people working in that field. Using this
approach, I could compare the starting wages of philosophy majors ($39,900, as
reported by The
Wall Street Journal) with the starting wages of welders: probably
roughly equivalent to the lowest 10 percent of wage-earners among Welders,
Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers, which is $24,990, according to the BLS. Or I
could look at the mid-career earnings of the philosophy majors—$81,200,
according to the WSJ survey—a figure
that exceeds even the 90th percentile earnings of Welders, Cutters,
Solderers, and Brazers: $57,120. Among both new workers and mid-career earners,
the philosophy majors get bigger paychecks.
Note, however, that these are apples-to-oranges comparisons.
If I am truly comparing the outcomes of postsecondary programs, I should be comparing the wages of the philosophy grads
to the wages of those who graduated from welding programs. Some of the latter are
no longer working as welders and have moved on to more lucrative careers such
as Construction Managers (with a median of $84,410). The WSJ survey and others of its ilk do not cover welding grads, so a
precise comparison is not possible. And those with no formal training beyond
welding probably have few opportunities for advancement to high-paying
managerial careers. Thus it seems likely that philosophy is the postsecondary
program with the bigger payoff.
Now let’s look at the senator’s second assertion: “We need
more welders and [fewer] philosophers.” It’s
important to parse this assertion carefully. Did the senator mean we need fewer
philosophers than welders? Or did he
mean fewer philosophers than we have now?
If he meant the latter, he has raised an issue that is
philosophical in its own right. A friend of mine who has a PhD in philosophy
reminded me of a quotation from John W. Gardner, once
president of the Carnegie Corporation: “The society which scorns excellence in
plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it
is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy:
neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.”
But let’s assume that the senator meant that there is a
greater need for welders than for philosophers. That meaning follows logically
from his earlier statement about earnings because getting a paycheck depends on
being employed. What are the comparative job prospects for philosophers and
welders?
In fact, only about 23,000 people were working as Philosophy
and Religion Teachers, Postsecondary, in May 2014. Compare this to more than 350,000
working as Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers. The BLS projects 10,600
job openings for the former occupation between 2012 and 2022, and remember that
some of these will be for religion teachers. By contrast, the BLS projects
108,500 job openings for the welders over the same time span. This comparison
validates this interpretation of Senator Rubio’s second assertion: We have a
greater need for welders.
In the discussion of comparative earnings, I also looked at
the figures for philosophy and welding graduates.
But for a comparison of employment prospects, hard data simply is not
available. Anecdotal evidence suggests that many philosophy grads are working
in business, law, clergy, and other fields, although often with additional
degrees. Therefore, I would not discourage bright students with the ability to
be flexible about their career outcomes from opting for a major in philosophy.
Senator Rubio, however, was talking about government policy
rather than the career choices of individuals, and the specific point he was
making is that vocational education suffers from a lack of prestige. I agree
with him that this is harmful to the future of our economy, and the quotation
from John Gardner is quite relevant to this issue. There are already reports
of manufacturers who are having trouble finding skilled workers, and the
blame is often placed on a widespread disrespect for occupations in the skilled
trades.
Perhaps I have parsed Senator Rubio’s words more carefully
than is appropriate. Politics, after all, deals with philosophical issues much
as a meat cleaver deals with meat. I agree with the senator’s main point, even
if it was expressed inelegantly.
