Reminds me of a controversy at my University. They were advertising a new English professor position, starting salary $37k. They also had an opening for an economics professor position starting salary $85k.

My economics professor addressed the reason for the difference in class very simply. He noted there were over 350 applicants for the English prof position. Only 3 people applied for the economics position.

So if anything, $37k was too high for English and $85k was not nearly enough for econ.