NIH Postdoc Wage Policy Issue on the Horizon for Research Institutions and Hospitals

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  • As reported by multiple news outlets in December 2023, an advisory group to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) released a report with a number of suggestions to improve the average postdoctoral experience and slow the loss of scientists to industry.

  • One of the major suggestions was to raise the minimum postdoc salary to $70,000, which would be an increase of over twenty percent (20%), and adjusting wages for annual inflation. The report also suggested limiting the length of postdoc appointments to 5 years, health care expansions, retirement, child care benefits, increased support for international postdocs, and other measures that are meant to enhance the quality of the postdoctoral experience.

  • In recent years there has been an unprecedented exodus of young life science researchers away from academia and into industry. If the NIH officially decides to support and implement these changes, the report writers hope it will secure the future of academia’s research workforce. However, there could be numerous unintended consequences, such as initially reducing the number of postdocs and potentially making it much harder for some universities and institutions to support postdocs if it is not possible for them to fund increases to postdoc salaries and benefits.

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