but is this true? as a SysAdmin (a job often done by people like me, with no education at all) I make rather more than anyone I know working as a chemist, physicist, or mathematician, at least until they got tired of the low pay and became software engineers... but in my limited experience, I could say the same about people who studied poetry, philosophy or literature.

There's a lot of talk about STEM, when as far as I can tell, the money is all in computers; the others might get you slightly above median salaries, but if they are above median, it's not by much.

I was comparing against farm workers, coal workers, auto workers, restaurant workers, care givers etc. STEM by far will provide better wages. Although the education system is not built for this (hence migrants). Politicians also would like to keep people in the above jobs because the owners pay theiere bills.

so you are saying that a STEM degree gets jobs that pay better than most jobs that don't require a degree at all?

If you compare your average non-computer industry STEM job to something in Medicine, law or business... I think that STEM, outside of the computer industry, just doesn't pay that well, and it's kind of disingenuous to advertise it as a path to financial well being to young people who are so poor that they have to look at education as a monetary investment.

So what? All I hear is 'they could be EVEN better'. Unlike the comments below I have no issues proclaiming I'd rather the jobs go to Americans.