The vast majority of jobs outside of academia are non-research. Moreover, the few corporate research jobs tend to be just as competitively sought as faculty positions, because the positions are so few relative to the supply of PhD-trained applicants.

Maybe it's because I'm too recently out of the system, but I think it was a nearly complete waste of time. Whatever skills I gained while doing my PhD, I would have gained working in industry for the same period of time -- and today I would be extremely well-connected (and far less poor). I'm proud of finishing, and there were certainly intangible benefits (mostly related to being surrounded by coeds for so many years). From a practical perspective, however, it was a terrible decision.