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EMPLOYMENT
The latest annual american Chemical Society survey of the employment status and salaries of its chemist members reveals a jarring increase in those who are unemployed but seeking employment--to 3.3%. This is more than twice what it was a year ago and one of the highest levels in the more than 30-year history of the survey.
Last year's survey indicated the best job situation for chemists in a decade, with a relatively low 1.5% unemployed. It also indicated that chemists had, rather belatedly, caught up with the biggest economic boom in U.S. history, from 1993 through 2000. These surveys, conducted by ACS's Department of Career Services, are as of March 1 each year. A full report on this year's survey will be in C&EN's Aug. 5 issue. Chemists had struggled during the early years of the boom with, in 1995, 2.6% unemployed, 3.6% on postdocs, and 2.7% employed part time, for a total 8.9% of chemists with other than a full-time job. By last year, this total was down to a more comfortable 5.4%. Now it is back up to 7.8%, with the 3.3% unemployed, a rather unusually low 1.5% on postdocs, and 3.0% working part time. The latest version of ACS's other annual survey--of new chemistry graduates each October--had shown some incipient weak- ness (C&EN, March 18, page 51). It indicated that 2000–01 graduates did quite well in acquiring full-time jobs but not as well as 1999–2000 graduates. Chemists are not alone with employment challenges these days. Between April 2000 and April 2002, unemployment in the U.S. rose from 5.5 million to 8.6 million. Of college graduates in the workforce in April 2000, 551,000, or 1.5%, were without jobs. By April 2002, that number was 1,158,000, or 3.0%. The median base salary of chemists with full-time jobs responding to this year's survey is $76,600. For those with a bachelor's degree, it is $58,000; for those with a master's, $68,500; and for Ph.D.s, $85,200. The median year-to-year increase for all respondents as individuals is 4.8%. The mean gain is 6.7%. |
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