Why are liberal arts degrees so underpaid compared to engineering, tech, medicine and law?

There are no jobs that require a liberal arts degree.

Because they shouldn’t exist?

Engineers are considerable smarter than liberal arts majors and their course loads are much higher and harder. Graduate engineers have IQs that are on average 20 points higher and have a proven ability to work hard. IQ is an interesting thing. A person with an IQ of 150+ can solve problems that someone of average IQ could never solve. So it’s not just that they are more productive, they can simply do things than normal people cannot. In my opinion, top engineers are way underpaid.

Low-paid does not equate to underpaid. Liberal Arts degrees are pretty much like a College Participation Certificate. Basically a step ahead of an Associate's Degree from a 2-year college, but more of a social credential than anything else.

"Thanks for playing, now go do something useful with your life."

Pay is not determined by education or degree, even though it's often correlated. Salaries are tied to the job itself and supply/demand. If a liberal arts grad can work as a software engineer (an in demand job with limited high-quality supply) they will be paid around $150k-$200k early in their career.

If instead the have limited specialized job skills, they'll find the pay/jobs they are uniquely qualified for are also very limited. So they end up in jobs that have few barriers to entry such as baristas, entry-level corporate jobs, admin, etc. These jobs all pay closer to $40k a year.

How do liberal arts majors contribute to society? Engineers design things and take on lots of liability if things are designed poorly. Doctors do a lot of non-reversible medical procedures on people and take on lots of liability. If either one of those professions screws up, people can die. If the liberal arts major at my local Starbucks screws up my order, it is annoying, but not life altering. Besides if LA majors were actually smart enough to take difficult classes, they would likely be able to get into a career field that pays better. I got east As in my liberal arts classes. Engineering classes and med school classes are actually difficult.

Racism. Companies know blacks don't get degrees in engineering and tech, so they pay those positions more.

Do you mean a liberal arts major, or do you mean a degree from a liberal arts school? You can go into any of those fields with a degree from a liberal arts school and I have the friends to prove it.

I would actually argue that a law degree is a liberal arts degree, yea it’s post grad but not science or engineering.

Liberal Arts Degree = Four More Years Of "Young Adult Daycare"

And why are there no conservative arts degrees?

I’m guessing you’re trolling, but if you’re serious, then look at the extent of your reasoning and the way you opt to make a case here.

You’re not looking like a candidate who possesses skills that are in high demand.

That's inaccurate, but even if it was true, what does it have to do with what I posted?

Culture and arts are important for society. I'm saying this as someone with an engineering degree.

In a perfect world we wouldn't be so focused on feeding the machine and could actually appreciate the finer things in life.

Most people grow out of this mindset after first year undergrad.

Here’s a better idea, go take an organic Chemistry class, a differential equations class, spend a day at a hospital shadowing med school residents (who are paying for the privilege of working long hours for Medicaid and Medicare patients who get care essentially for free), and spend a day at an engineering firm working on getting a project out on deadline. Then tell me those professions are overpaid.

I have a liberal arts degree (paired with a master's, TBF) and do just fine. You think a liberal arts major would be better prepared to communicate what they can offer when applying for jobs, but alas ...

A lot of liberal arts majors get into law as well.

I wouldn't say science or engineers are smarter - they just have skills that are currently more in demand in the market. That said, a lot of tech layoffs this year after overhiring in Covid. There are plenty of smart liberal arts grads who perhaps have their heads in the clouds about the real world wants.

You know damn well that a lot of people are incapable of passing intellectually challenging classes in O-Chem and Diff EQ. Why should they be penalized monetarily?