Fifteen dollars per hour is the new target minimum wage among many labor activists, and North Carolina just became the first state to introduce a $15 minimum wage for state workers. But shouldn’t Ph.D.s earn more than that? That’s what many on Twitter said this week, not so politely, after the Social Science Research Network posted an ad for a part-time, work-from-home job reviewing and classifying article abstracts for online journals about transportation. Qualifications include experience in transportation, with a Ph.D. “strongly preferred.” Compensation is $15 per hour.

At the end of the day, you need some one with PhD caliber for little money. And you will probably find that someone. The world we live in. — Michael L. Avery (@mrmavery) July 5, 2018

In response to online criticism about how a doctorate is worth more than the target minimum wage, SSRN tweeted, “This role is part time and extremely flexible for early/late career researchers already reading SSRN content in their homes or anywhere else in the world. Plus it includes significant other benefits.” That response didn’t quite cut it for some, who continued to criticize SSRN, while others commented on what they described as the sad state of academic labor.