The (non-)Ethics of Capitalism

Back in 2018, there was a survey on Gallup, about honesty and ethical standards, per profession

More than four in five Americans (84%) again rate the honesty and ethical standards of nurses as “very high” or “high,” earning them the top spot among a diverse list of professions for the 17^th consecutive year. At the same time, members of Congress are again held in the lowest esteem, as nearly 58% of Americans say they have “low” or “very low” ethical standards. Telemarketers join members of Congress as having a majority of low/very low ratings.

One might wonder if there is a correlation between ethics and salary. Using the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) National Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates data, one could easily get the average salary in the U.S. for some professions. For the others, one has to dig a bit more

• Nurses (Registered Nurses) — 84% — $94,480 — BLS OEWS 2023, 29-1141

• Medical doctors (Physicians, all) — 67% — $263,840 — BLS OEWS 2023, 29-1210

• Pharmacists — 66% — $132,750 — BLS OEWS 2023, 29-1051

• High school teachers (Secondary school teachers, except special/CATE) — 60% — $73,800 — BLS OEWS 2023, 25-2031

• Police officers (Police & Sheriff’s Patrol Officers) — 54% — $76,550 — BLS OEWS 2023, 33-3051

• Accountants (Accountants & Auditors) — 42% — $90,780 — BLS OEWS 2023, 13-2011

• Funeral directors (Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers) — 39% — $58,020 — BLS OEWS 2023, 39-4031

• Clergy — 37% — $63,720 — BLS OEWS 2023, 21-2011

• Journalists (News analysts, reporters, journalists) — 33% — $101,430 — BLS OEWS 2023, 27-3023

• Building contractors (Construction Managers) — 29% — $116,960 — BLS OEWS 2023, 11-9021

• Bankers (Loan Officers as proxy) — 27% — $84,490 — BLS OEWS 2023, 13-2072

• Real estate agents (Sales Agents) — 25% — $69,610 — BLS OEWS 2023, 41-9022

• Labor union leaders (Labor Relations Specialists as proxy) — 21% — $82,420 — BLS OEWS 2023, 13-1075

• Lawyers — 19% — $176,470 — BLS OEWS 2023, 23-1011

• Business executives (Chief Executives) — 17% — $258,900 — BLS OEWS 2023, 11-1011

• Stockbrokers (Securities/Financial Services Sales Agents) — 14% — $109,710 — BLS OEWS 2023, 41-3031

• Advertising practitioners (Advertising Sales Agents) — 13% — $75,820 — BLS OEWS 2023, 41-3011

• Telemarketers — 9% — $36,680 — BLS OEWS 2023, 41-9041

• Car salespeople (Retail Salespersons in Automobile Dealers) — 8% — $62,380 — BLS OEWS 2023, NAICS 441100 industry table

• Members of Congress — 8% — $174,000 — Congressional Research Service RL30064

Store all those information in a csv file, and then, add the honesty/ethics high-very high percentage,

download.file("https://freakonometrics.hypotheses.org/files/2025/08/gallup_ethics_salaries.csv", destfile = "data.csv")
df = read.csv("data.csv", stringsAsFactors = FALSE)

and we can get a plot.

plot(df$percent_high, df$avg_salary_usd,
     xlab = "Honesty/Ethics rated 'Very high/High' (%)",
     ylab = "Average salary (USD)",
     pch = 19)
# label points (may overlap a bit)
text(df$percent_high, df$avg_salary_usd, labels = df$profession, pos = 4, cex = 0.6)

At best, there is no link between salaries and honesty / ethics.