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  "path": "/2026/03/10/unions-strikes-and-the-financial-satisfaction-of-philosophy-phd-students/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-03-10T13:10:31.000Z",
  "site": "https://dailynous.com",
  "tags": [
    "Academic Labor",
    "academic labor",
    "graduate programs",
    "pay",
    "stipends",
    "strike",
    "unions",
    "Unions, Strikes, and the Financial Satisfaction of Philosophy PhD Students",
    "Daily Nous"
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  "textContent": "In its 2023 and 2025 surveys, Academic Philosophy Data & Analysis (APDA) asked current PhD students to rate their satisfaction with their financial situation. In a post at the APDA site, co-director Kino Zhao (Simon Fraser University) reports on some of the findings. Students in 2025 report being more financially satisfied than did the students surveyed in 2023. They rated themselves on a scale of 1 to 5, according to which 1=very unsatisfied and 5=very satisfied. The results are: 2023: “a mean satisfaction of 2.96 (n=336). Qualitatively, roughly 15% are very unsatisfied, 24% unsatisfied, 20% neutral, 30% satisfied, and 11% very satisfied.” 2025: “a mean satisfaction of 3.36 (n=455). Qualitatively, roughly 8% are very unsatisfied, 16% unsatisfied, 22% neutral, 36% satisfied, 17% very satisfied. (They do not add to 100% due to rounding error.)” APDA also looked at graduate student unionization and recent strike activity (noting some difficulty with obtaining the latter). Regarding unionization, they found that “whether or not a graduate program is unionized does not correlate with financial satisfaction in either the 2023 or the 2025 surveys.” Regarding strike activity, they found that “financial satisfaction negatively correlates with recent strike action for the 2023 survey… but not the 2025 survey.” What’s the explanation for that? Professor Zhao doesn’t have a definitive answer, but floats a few possibilities: One possible explanation is that the financial dissatisfaction drove the unions to strike, though note that some of the recorded strikes happened before 2023. Another possible explanation is that, during and immediately after strike action, there is greater awareness of the financial situation in general. Yet another possible explanation is that it takes time for benefits gained through strike actions to take effect. You can read the whole post here.\n\nThe post Unions, Strikes, and the Financial Satisfaction of Philosophy PhD Students first appeared on Daily Nous.",
  "title": "Unions, Strikes, and the Financial Satisfaction of Philosophy PhD Students"
}