There aren't jobs in academia, but there are jobs in industry. Intel, IBM, etc, hire people with physics backgrounds to work on new types of memory cells, etc.
But why would you? If you're a 1 in 100 physicist, you might make a discovery that will net your company tens of millions of dollars, but our laws are such that you won't see any of that money. Anything you invent will automatically belong to your employer. Meanwhile, even a 1 in 10 trader can stick with an investment bank long enough to bring in some $1 million/year paydays until exiting to a cushy corporate finance position.
In other words, as long as it's more profitable to play with the government's Ponzi scheme we're going to suffer brain-drain from R&D and other actual industry.
But why would you? If you're a 1 in 100 physicist, you might make a discovery that will net your company tens of millions of dollars, but our laws are such that you won't see any of that money. Anything you invent will automatically belong to your employer. Meanwhile, even a 1 in 10 trader can stick with an investment bank long enough to bring in some $1 million/year paydays until exiting to a cushy corporate finance position.