I think the issue is not that Masters degree programs are artificially depressing wages, but rather that getting the degree does not necessarily help get a higher paying job. So you work hard to increase your credentials and are still competing for the same low wage jobs that you would have without it. We have several prestigious programs in our area: public history, library and archives, and museum studies. The graduates are highly desirable, and I still simply cannot pay them what they expect and deserve.
Ruth S. Taylor
Executive Director
Newport Historical Society
<http://www.newporthistorical.org/> www.newporthistorical.org <http://www.newporthistorical.org/>
401-846-0813
________________________________
From: Museum discussion list on behalf of John E Simmons
Sent: Fri 12/14/2012 11:15 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] Positions, Salaries and etc.
With all due respect, the argument has been made several times that the low salaries and/or lack of jobs in museums is due to a presumed glut of graduates with degrees in museum studies, but this is based on assumptions, not on evidence. I have spent many years working in museums, I have been director of a museum studies program, and I currently teach museum studies as an adjunct instructor at two institutions of higher learning, and it annoys me to see museum studies programs being blamed for the low pay in museum jobs when there is no evidence to support this charge.
I am not aware of any studies that have surveyed the job market and provided numbers for how graduates of museum studies programs are impacting the job market. If there are such studies available, I would appreciate it if someone would post citations for them.
I have been in the museum field for nearly 40 years, and throughout my career museum jobs have been few in number, hard to get, and have paid low wages--despite the fact that when I started on my career, there were very few museum studies programs around and therefore no glut of museum studies graduates.
The number of graduates of any academic programs rarely correlates with levels of pay or job availability in the field, which we can see by looking at jobs in academia for PhDs, for which there is data. Here are some facts:
*The US educational system produces about 60,000 new PhDs every year.
*In 1980, 55% of the PhDs working in academia were tenured or tenure-track.
*By 2007, number of tenure/tenure track jobs had dropped to 31%. The remainder of the teaching jobs are handled by part-time faculty who are paid on average less than $3,000 per course, which is far less than a tenured or tenure track faculty member receives.
*Using the logic applied to the situation in museums, with the glut of PhDs entering the market since 1980, we should see the average pay for tenure and tenture track PhDs decline precipitously, particularly as universities hire more part time (adjunct) instructors, but in fact, PhD pay has gone up.
*Contrary to the logic of supply and demand, despite the glut of PhDs, those PhD gradutes who get the tenured and tenure track jobs are still doing very well (the average pay for a PhD in academia today is $94,000).
Sources of the above information:
http://chronicle.com/article/The-Future-of-the-PhD/131749/
http://www.indeed.com/salary/PhD.html
I don't have hard data to support my interpretation of the situation, but there is also no data that I have seen to contradict it--here is how I see it:
As I stated above, during my professional career museum jobs have always been hard to find, hard to get, and have paid lousy wages. The only change now is that the US economy crashed five years ago, making it hard for everyone to find a job and lowering wages for most workers. Public sector institutions such as museums are always hit particularly hard during difficult economic times (anyone remember how hard museums jobs were to find during the Reagan administration? I do).
Despite the number of graduates of museum studies programs, most of the students I have worked with have found jobs in museums if they really want them (meaning they work hard to build good resumes, don't expect their degree alone to get them employment, and are willing to start entry level). The jobs don't pay well, but museum never have. There aren't many jobs, but there never have been many museum jobs. The museum job situation has no correlation that I can find with the number of graduates of museum studies programs.
Funny how there is no hue and cry over the glut of people with newly minted master's degrees in French, or art, or archaeology or sociology or whatever who don't have jobs awaiting them, and there is little demand that the excess number of graduate programs in those fields be shut down. Why pick on museum studies?
I think we can all agree that its a tough job market in museums, most museums are understaffed, and most museum workers are paid far less than they should be paid, but none of those are the fault of the number of graduates museum studies programs produce.
--John
John E. Simmons
Museologica
128 E. Burnside Street
Bellefonte, Pennsylvania 16823-2010
[log in to unmask]
303-681-5708
www.museologica.com <http://www.museologica.com/>
and
Adjunct Curator of Collections
Earth and Mineral Science Museum & Art Gallery
Penn State University
University Park, Pennsylvania
and
Lecturer in Art
Juniata College
Huntingdon, Pennsylvania
On Fri, Dec 14, 2012 at 5:11 PM, Dan Bartlett <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
I've been watching this thread with growing amusement and frustration. Here are my 2 cents:
#1) The problem is in large part the fact there there are too d**n many graduate training programs turning out too d**n many masters degrees into a market that doesn't need them. The newest of these programs are nothing more than cash cows for the schools that operate them as there is NO market driven demand for more masters level museum professionals. It is irresponsible and it is the biggest reason that a museum can offer a master's level applicant $10/hour. And I guarantee they will get 50 or more qualified applicants. "What else can I do?" one asks one young professional. Ask the school that led you to believe there was a job with a living wage out there for you and your master's degree for a refund. It breaks my heart to see the perennial spring discussion on this list started by some poor grad student who can't find a job. There is also no reasonable argument that can be made that a master's degree is even necessary (or any more valuable than an undergraduate museology degree) for the vast majority of collections, education, or exhibit work being done in small to mid-sized museums of all types across the USA.
#2) If the number of museum applicants across the country was anywhere near the number of available positions, you would not see $10 offered. To suggest otherwise is wishful thinking. Ten dollars is being offered because someone will work for that much. If they weren't guaranteed those 50+ qualified applicants, the museum would either pay more or find another way to get the work done if it's really all that important. And might I suggest that some financially struggling museums should consider mergers or closing their doors because their stewardship and interpretation must suffer if they can't (or won't) value the professionals they think they need to best get that work done.
I suspect these comments will not be popular.
Dan
Dan Bartlett
Curator of Exhibits and Education
Instructor of Museum Studies
Logan Museum of Anthropology
Beloit College
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