Making a Living

The Drowsy Chaperon - UCF

Dave and I have tickets for the University of Central Florida's Theater season.  Never heard of UCF? It's the second largest university in the US of A.  And they have an excellent theater program.  The photo is from last season's "The Drowsy Chaperon."  I'd seen the Broadway version and this one was just as entertaining.    Last Friday we saw "Leveling Up" and next month we'll see "The Music Man."

Many of these young entertainers have already racked up excellent credentials.  Most of them should have no problems finding work.  Our world class theme parks, Disney, Universal, SeaWorld and so on, are always on the lookout for new entertainers.

But here's the thing:  The vast majority of actors and entertainers of all sorts don't make enough money to live on.  The Orlando Sentinel ran an article yesterday listing the highest and lowest paying jobs, the first year out of college, for Florida public university graduates with bachelor's degrees.

The lowest - Drama and dramatic/theater arts at $19,548

The highest - Fire science (whatever that is) at $69,756

Here are the other lowest and highest paying jobs.  Some of them surprise me.

Lowest
Russian language and literature               $19,700
Botany/plant biology                               $20,040
Entomology                                             $20,660
Physics, general                                       $20,704
Anthropology                                          $20,898

Highest

Nuclear engineering                                $67,842

Nursing/registered nurse                         $60,220

Electrical and electronics-engineering    $59,300

So what's the take away?  Last night the Grammys made us think that all entertainers are beautiful, rich and famous.  Even the robots.  It's not true.  A few make it big.  The rest of us need a fall back plan.  

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