PhD programs are not the issue. On the average, people with a PhD have higher incomes and a lower unemployment rate than people with a lower degree. It's just that there is a subset of PhDs who can't find a proper job in the academia but choose to stay there anyway.
Doing a PhD may not make sense purely from a financial perspective, but few things in life do. You don't buy a bigger home or have hobbies to make more money either. A PhD is one of those things you don't do for money, but because you find some inherent value in it.
> A PhD is one of those things you don't do for money, but because you find some inherent value in it.
We must not run the same circles. The number of people I know who abandoned a post doc (they were fucking miserable) is probably triple the number of people I know who got a PhD.
If your statement were true I can’t fathom why people would drop out.
People typically don't start a PhD with the expectation of making more money. They start it because they think research will be interesting.
Many people drop out once they realize that doing a PhD is not for them. I've seen estimates that the average dropout rates are something like 40-50%. Many of them are high achievers, who are very good at completing well-defined tasks given to them, but who don't enjoy working on more open-ended problems. Others are driven out by the intense pressure and the expectations of long working hours that are present in some labs, particularly in elite universities. And some, in countries where people doing PhD are considered students rather than junior professionals, cannot tolerate the poverty imposed on them.
The post you're responding to said abandoning a postdoc. The PhD was completed. So I'm not sure it has anything to do with not enjoying open ended work.
Doing a PhD may not make sense purely from a financial perspective, but few things in life do. You don't buy a bigger home or have hobbies to make more money either. A PhD is one of those things you don't do for money, but because you find some inherent value in it.