The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced pay increases today for early-career scientists who are recipients of its Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards (NRSAs), after an NIH advisory group recommended raises in December 2023. Postdocs will now be paid at least $61,008, an increase of $4500 over their current minimum salary level—though still below the advisory group’s recommendation of $70,000. Graduate students will receive a $1000 raise, bringing their minimum to $28,224. NIH also announced a $500 increase in child care subsidies for early-career researchers who are parents.
“This is very welcome news and a step in the right direction,” says Leslie Vosshall, vice president and chief scientific officer of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which last year raised its postdoc salaries to $70,000. “Recruiting and retaining early-career scientists in academic science critically depends on raising their pay.”
Others in the community expressed a similar sentiment—noting the increases will help early-career scientists who are struggling to pay their bills. Most U.S. biomedical postdocs and graduate students are supported by NIH research awards, not through the NRSA program. But many principal investigators and institutions follow the NRSA salary levels.
The salary adjustment is a far cry, however, from the recommendation made by the advisory group, which was formed in the wake of reports about a shortage of applicants for academic postdoc positions. “Postdoctoral scholars … feel undervalued and underpaid,” the report noted, adding that the current pay levels “are not commensurate with their education and expertise.”
In a news release, NIH acknowledged the shortfall. “The increase is based on current NIH funding levels, which remained flat in the constrained budget environment,” it says. Over the next 3 to 5 years, the agency plans to further increase salary levels to reach $70,000, pending the availability of funding through congressional appropriations. It added that institutions are free to supplement the salaries of NRSA recipients using “additional, non-NIH funds and/or benefits.”
Members of the advisory group tell ScienceInsider they understand the constraints NIH is working under. “It’s challenging to implement immediate increases to the suggested salary level during a year where the NIH budget remains flat,” says Chrystal Starbird, an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine who was a postdoc until last year. Donna Ginther, a professor of economics at the University of Kansas, adds that had NIH increased the salaries further, it would have forced the agency to make cuts elsewhere, such as to the number of research grants awarded to principal investigators. “The NIH was in a difficult position,” she says.
Group members also said they hope NIH will secure the necessary funding to bring postdoc pay to $70,000—or higher—sooner rather than later. “In 5 years, that $70,000 target will be north of $80,000 with inflation, so I hope they take that into account, which the announcement does not indicate,” says Ubadah Sabbagh, a postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Government officials in Canada made a similar announcement last week with the release of this year’s federal budget, which laid out plans to boost pay for federally funded graduate student and postdoctoral fellowships. Postdocs saw the largest raises: They’ll now be paid at least CA$70,000 (about $51,200), up from the previous minimum of CA$45,000. “This is the largest investment in graduate students and postdoctoral scholars in more than 20 years,” Support Our Science, a grassroots group that organized demonstrations across Canada demanding higher pay for early-career researchers, noted in a statement.
Starbird hopes similar pressure can be applied to the U.S. government to increase budgetary appropriations for federal funding agencies. The scientific community needs to “urge our politicians to support science,” she says.
More: https://www.science.org/content/article/nih-boosts-pay-postdocs-and-graduate-students
