[camdenreslink]

Getting a PhD is almost never worth the foregone wages if your goal is to be in private industry. For sure, people should get one if they are interested in research, or specific jobs that are only available to people with PhDs. But otherwise it isn't something to get into half-hearted.

[asdff]

This is only true when you compare the PhD field degree to something like finance where you can make real money at 23 years old. If the alternative is a bs for a path where most people end up going PhD, you will be working for like $20/hr most your life. You will probably be breaking even with what the PhD stipend would have been anyhow and you aren't getting any healthcare benefits.

[camdenreslink]

It's true for computer science and any STEM discipline. Even if the PhD eventually does account for increased wages (it often doesn't), you usually have to work decades at that higher rate to make up the foregone wages.

I would only ever get a PhD due to intrinsic interest, or if it unlocks a specific type of job I want that would be unavailable without it. It's a bad investment to get a PhD to get higher wages (in America, I don't know the labor market in other countries).

[asdff]

Not true in life science at least.