The percentage of 2007 chemistry graduates with full-time jobs as of early last October was relatively high, extending an upturn in employment rates of the past several years, according to the June 2 issue of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN). C&EN is the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest scientific society.
Citing the ACS' latest starting salary survey, C&EN reported that the 39 percent of 2007 bachelor's graduates with full-time positions was up from the low of 33 percent for the 2003 class. The parallel increase for master's graduates was up from 43 percent in 2002 to 52 percent in 2007 and for Ph.D. graduates, from below 40 percent for the 2004, 2005 and 2006 classes to 43 percent for the 2007 class.
Salary performance was more mixed, the newsmagazine said. The median base starting salary of $37,500 for all 2007 chemistry bachelor's graduates was 4 percent higher than the $36,000 for the class of 2006. For Ph.D. graduates in 2007, the median salary of $70,000 was the same as it had been for the 2005 class. The median salary for master's graduates was basically unchanged, listed at $50,400 in 2006 and $50,000 in 2007. The median is the point at which half of the salaries are above that point and half are below it.
In general, 2007 chemistry graduates did about as well or better in regard to jobs and pay than did their predecessors in the four or five previous classes. They did not, however, do as well as those who graduated in 2000 and 2001, when the prolonged 1990s economic and employment boom finally peaked.
To read the full C&EN story, go to: http://pubs.acs.org/cen/acsnews/86/8622acsnews1.html.
The American Chemical Society — the world's largest scientific society — is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.