Who makes more money? A cancer researcher or a McDonald's Fry Cook?

Here is a question:  If we care so much about curing cancer -- if our goal, as a society is to really eradicate this disease, what would we pay for people to work on the cure?  I cover the salaries of most levels of scientific researchers in my book, but I feel like I could do a better job of driving this point home.

What does a graduate student researcher doing cancer research make a year?  It varies from college to college, but I know of grad students currently making $17,000 a year.  As I mentioned in my book the HIGHEST salary I've ever heard of was about $26,000, and that is here in D.C.

A postdoctoral researcher salary is easier to define.  A first level postdoc receiving NIH funding is supposed to make $37,000/year.  Yep.  After 8 to 12 years of college, and the loans that are accrued during this time, Dr. So and So will make $37,000 as long as his or her boss doesn't find one of the many loop holes available to actually pay less.

Lets do the math.  Lets assume a graduate researcher who is working on a new chemotherapy drug for her dissertation does make $26,000/year.  If we assume she works 40 hours per week 52 weeks a year, she makes roughly $12.50/hour.

The postdoc at $37,000 makes around $17.75/hour for 40 hours.

Recently, I have met a few graduate students and postdocs who did get to work 40 hours a week.  It was clear from the amount of work they had produced that they will not make it in the field.  They will soon be replaced by more motivated scientists.  

Lets go back to the salaries.  Based on what I saw at the State University where I did my graduate work and the top tier research institution where I did my first postdoctoral fellowship, I think it is fair to say the average scientist at this level in their career puts in about 60 hours of actual research time.

At 60 hours/week, the graduate student makes $8.65/hour and the postdoc makes about $11.85/hour.

Back to the question in the title of this post.  Who makes more money, the McDonald's employee or the cancer researcher?  According to Glassdoor.Com a Fry Cook at McDonald's makes $8.25/hour, but an employee at McDonald's is eligible for overtime pay at 1.5 times the normal rate of pay.  While the base rate of pay for the McDonald's employee at 40 hours/week is $17,200/year, at 60 hours/week, the fry cook would make $25,780/year.

Conclusion:  The graduate student doing cancer research would make roughly the same amount of money as the fry cook at McDonald's.  The postdoctoral fellow would make considerably more after her 8 to 12 years of college.

Footnote:  As mentioned in my book, when I completed my Ph.D., I made $16,000/year.  My first postdoctoral advisor used one of the many loopholes in the system to pay me $25,000 the final year of my fellowship (2009).  So while my examples made more than the fry cook, I did not.