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They're competing for the same staff (clearly since the author has decided to return to industry), so why wouldn't you compare their pay?

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There is a real reason for that: no-one works an adjunct because they want to stay an adjunct (or, at least, I've never heard of that). You work as an adjunct because you want to stay on the academic path while you angle for a tenure-track position.

However, since the supply of PhD students grossly outnumbers the number of tenure-track positions, people do end up in some kind of limbo (post-docs, non-track lecturer or adjunct positions) for a long time.

The tenured positions also don't pay as well as industry but they come with much greater freedom, more flexible balance of research vs. teaching vs. service and incredibly robust job security.

That's really not quite true. There are thousands of lecturers in the UC system, and many thousands more where it is a career choice. Because tenure track is simply just not possible at many places, especially if you want to teach and do not want to do, or do not have a research background. The UC system especially has a career progression for lecturers, though it is somewhat challenging to make it through.

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