{
    "action": "tool_call",
    "reasoning": "I've reviewed the evidence and found several patterns, but I need to explore one more angle to identify the most counterintuitive finding. The data shows that PhD holders have the LOWEST average salary ($113,728) among all education levels, which is surprising. However, I want to verify if this holds true when controlling for experience level, since the overall PhD average might be skewed by distribution across experience levels. Let me check the salary comparison specifically for senior/expert roles where education differences should matter most.",
    "tool": "query_sql",
    "args": {
        "sql": "SELECT education_required, COUNT(*) as job_count, ROUND(AVG(salary_usd), 2) as avg_salary, ROUND(MEDIAN(salary_usd), 2) as median_salary FROM raw.ai_job_dataset WHERE experience_level IN ('EX', 'SE') GROUP BY education_required ORDER BY avg_salary DESC",
        "purpose": "Compare salaries by education level for senior and expert roles only, to see if PhD holders still earn less even at higher experience levels",
        "source": "raw"
    }
}