Science Job Market Is Cool As Summer Heat Sets In

The recessionary economy makes finding work tough for both new graduates and experienced researchers Summertime, and the sidewalks are steaming--tempers short, and the work day long. It's the time of year when people are considering whether they should start looking for a new job. If they begin the search now, they can at least look forward to a new place to work when the cool weather comes. Summer is also the season for new science graduates to make a decision as to whether they should continue in academia or break away from the campus and seek out a job in industry. For the summer of 1991, the outlook is on the hazy side for young scientists pounding the hot pavement, curriculum vitae in hand, looking for a new--or a first--professional position. While there are some indications of an upturn in the economy, recessionary strategizing is causing companies and universities to forecast drought--a disappointment for those longing for a refreshing dip into the job pool. There is some good news: Starting salaries for new science graduates in fields such as physics, chemistry, and geology have risen. But there's bad news, too: Fewer jobs are out there. For experienced scientists thinking about a move, labor statisticians say it is probably best just to hang tight. One of them--Betty Vetter, statistician with the Washington, D.C.-based Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology--says it clearly: "There just aren't very many new spots out there this year." SOCIETY ANNUAL MEETING Year Candidates Positions Ratio Registering Open 1980-1 29 46 0.63 1981-2 90 96 0.94 1982-3 33 40 0.83 1983-4 31 41 0.76 1984-5 40 45 0.89 1985-6 51 70 0.73 1986-7 42 50 0.84 1987-8 52 75 0.69 1988-9 49 60 0.82 1989-90 47 74 0.64 1990-1 80 58 1.38 Source Biophysical Society Placement Service Concurring with Vetter is Patrick Scheetz, assistant director for career development and job placement at Michigan State University and coauthor of "Recruiting Trends 1990-1991," the latest edition of an annual report on job prospects for new college graduates that the university has published for the past two decades. "Employers told us in our survey from last December that they are decreasing the demand for all new graduates in 1991 by about 10 percent," he says. Although those with fresh science degrees are getting hit by the recession in terms of job availability, starting salaries in a number of disciplines are higher than the entry-level pay being offered to nonscientific graduates, says Dawn Oberman, statistical services specialist at the Philadelphia-based College Placement Council, a group that monitors recruitment of new graduates. "Those graduating with science degrees are being adversely affected by current negative market conditions, but perhaps less so than many other disciplines," says Scheetz. According to the College Placement Council, the average starting salary as of May 1991 for a graduate with a bachelor's degree in chemistry was $27,625; for physics graduates, it was $29,059. Last year, the respective salaries were $27,494 and $28,022. In 1990, the average starting salary for chemistry Ph.D.'s was $45,356. Now it is $49,060. Biologists with bachelor's degrees have not fared as well as the other natural science B.A.'s. Their average starting salary last year was $21,800, and this year it went down to $21,267. Oberman also found that a bachelor's degree in geology this year is a hot ticket. New geologists can expect to get $28,250, a 20 percent increase in average starting salary from $23,463 last year. "Petroleum, mining, and engineering companies are hiring these new graduates," she says. In contrast to science grads, graduates in English could command an average starting salary of only $21,725 this year. Last year the average was $21,556. According to Scheetz's study, the 1991 average starting salary for a degree holder in journalism is $19,516; in advertising, $21,483; in social science, $22,610; in education, $21,662; and in retailing, $20,360. As Victor Lindquist, dean and director of the placement services department at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., reports, "We are seeing more unhappy faces than we have in the past, but for those kids who are getting the jobs, they are coming in [to placement services offices] smiling. The corporations are skimming the cream and paying quite well for it." Experienced and inexperienced scientists are not suffering as badly from the recession as the rest of the working force, says Tom Nardone, an economist with the Bureau of Labor Statistics. While the United States' April 1991 overall unemployment rate was 6.6 percent, according to the bureau, the current unemployment rate for experienced natural scientists is only 1.5 percent. "During a recession, the people who get let go are low-skilled labor," says Nardone. "Scientists obviously don't fit in that category." Getting a handle on the job market for the different subspecialties of scientists is difficult, since there are many disciplines and most of the large specialty scientific societies do not keep detailed information on new graduate hires or on the job market for their experienced scientists. Some scientific societies, however, do keep such information. If the job search at these societies' annual meetings is an indication, the numbers of available positions have been decreasing over the years. There are more cell biologists, for example, looking for fewer jobs. According to data from the American Society for Cell Biology's last annual meeting held in December, 280 biologists were looking for jobs and only 231 jobs were listed. In 1989, there were about the same number of jobs with 71 fewer candidates applying. About 90 percent of the jobs posted at the cell biology meeting required a Ph.D. And while employers were primarily seeking candidates with expertise in cell biology, they also were looking for biochemists, developmental biologists, immunocytochemists, molecular biologists, and protein chemists. The latest information on astronomers also reveals that the group saw a decrease in the number of jobs available in 1990 compared with 1989. There were only 308 job-placement advertisements in the Washington D.C.-based American Astronomical Society newsletter in 1990, compared to 351 in 1989. The percentage of these ads offering postdoc positions remained steady: 31 percent in 1990, 30 percent in 1989. Assistant professor tenure-track positions were comparable between 1990 (16 percent) and 1989 (17 percent). Research positions were down in 1990 (32 percent) from 1989 (43 percent). And senior/associate professorships were down in 1990 (4.5 percent) from 1989 (7 percent). The percentage of jobs offered to astronomers from large academic institutions was down in 1990 (39 percent, compared to 45 percent in 1989). Jobs in research labs were down in 1990 (11 percent, compared to 14 percent in 1989). The percentage of ads for astronomy jobs in small and foreign academic institutions rose in 1990. Small academic institutions provided 15 percent of the jobs in 1990, compared to 12.5 percent in 1989. Jobs at foreign institutions increased to 12 percent in 1990 from 8.5 percent in 1989. And government agency hiring increased from 7 percent in 1989 to 11 percent in 1990. Materials scientists are also seeing a job shortage. At the Materials Research Society meeting last fall, 300 people were looking, yet there were only 85 jobs advertised. In 1989, 120 positions were available. Biophysicists, for the first time in 10 years, have seen a reversal in the ratio of candidates to positions. Since 1981, according to the Biophysical Society, there have been more jobs available than candidates looking at the society's annual meetings. This year, there were 80 applicants looking for only 58 jobs (see accompanying table). The American Institute of Physics, in New York City, also keeps an eye on the work behavior of its members. Susan Ellis, education studies analyst for the institute, notes that an institute survey reveals a trend among new physics Ph.D.'s to go for academic postdoc positions rather than to potentially permanent industry jobs. In 1980, 260 physicists with U.S. citizenship went for a postdoc position. In 1985, the number was 335; in 1990, 380. "We can't conclude that there are fewer permanent industry jobs out there for physicists," says Ellis. "It might just mean that these postdocs are hoping to get on a tenure-track road and are looking to the academic jobs opening for them in the mid-1990s." Unlike the physicists, chemists still have the best opportunities in industry, even though there are more chemists looking for work than companies searching. According to the latest information from the placement office of the American Chemical Society (ACS), collected from the society's August 1990 meeting, there were 888 candidates looking for jobs, and only 596 jobs posted. "But these numbers will vary from year to year and don't really represent a true picture of the chemistry profession," says Anjalika Silva, placement statistician at ACS, "because the location of the meetings influence the companies that attend, posting jobs." Of those chemistry jobs available, 86 percent were in industry, 5 percent were in government, and 3.7 percent were academic. The most desired specialties in chemistry were: analytical at 27 percent; organic, 14.5 percent; environmental, 7 percent; chemical engineering, 7 percent; pharmaceutical, 6 percent; polymer, 5.5 percent; and agricultural, 2.0 percent. The remaining specialties represented less than 1 percent. By the way, for science graduates who may want to pursue other professional opportunities, Scheetz's report provides some clues as to where the hiring action will be in various commercial sectors. Although an overall decrease in hiring is expected this year, he predicts staff increases in glass, packaging, and allied products (up 44.4 percent); hospitals and health care services (up 30.3 percent); automotive and mechanical equipment (up 17.6 percent); merchandising and retailing (up 10 percent); and hotels, motels, restaurants and recreational facilities (up 5.9 percent).

Science Job Market Is Cool As Summer Heat Sets In

Jun 23, 1991

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