GOP debate fact check: Was Marco Rubio right about welders vs. philosophers?

[Attorney in Texas]

55. 538: "Philosophers Don’t Get Much Respect, But Their Earnings Don’t Suck"

Excerpt from the whole article:

Philosophers don’t get much love in a world focused on earnings, public profile and technical accomplishment. A Monty Python song portrayed famous “lovers of wisdom” (the literal translation of the Greek word philosopher) as drunken sots. And at last night’s GOP debate there were several dismissive references to the art of loving wisdom. Ted Cruz decried the “philosopher-kings” at the Federal Reserve. John Kasich said, “Philosophy doesn’t work when you run something.” And Marco Rubio framed a point about reviving vocational education with the zinger, “Welders make more than philosophers. We need more welders and less philosophers.”

Today, he doubled-down on his riff during a campaign stop at the Jersey Grille in Davenport, Iowa. ...The fortunes of philosophers — or at least philosophy majors — are a mixed bag, ranging from college teaching adjuncts who can barely pay their rent to tech entrepreneurs. In general, humanities and liberal arts majors tend to have high unemployment rates (9.4 percent, according to a 2014 Georgetown University study), and within that group, philosophy and religious study majors tend to do a little worse, with a 10.8 percent jobless rate, according to the study.

But philosophy majors also have some of the highest scores in the LSAT and GMAT — the required tests for entry to law and business school respectively, according to figures from the Educational Testing Service (ETS). And when it comes to earnings for people who only have undergraduate degrees, philosophy majors have the fourth-highest median earnings, $81,200 per year, out-ranking business and chemistry majors, according to the ETS. Bar none, philosophy majors have the highest salary growth trajectory from entry to mid-career.