US / economy, both salaries and the job market are improving for chemists

Reflecting the modest recovery in the U.S. economy, both salaries and the job market are improving for chemists, according to the latest figures compiled by the American Chemical Society.

Full-time employment for chemists in 2013 is at its highest level in five years, while unemployment continues to retreat from its 2011 peak. And this year’s rise in median salary for chemists more than made up for last year’s dip. These results come from the 2013 Comprehensive Salary & Employment Survey of ACS members in the workforce, which the society conducted from March through early May this year.

The survey also shows that men continue to make more money than women, and that chemical engineers bring home bigger paychecks than chemists. In the U.S., salaries rose in the New England region while they dipped in the Central Southeast.

For overall employment, the pickup in the economy has generated moderate improvement in chemical company results, leading to a slight increase in hiring and a drop in layoffs, says David Harwell, assistant director for career management at ACS, which publishes C&EN.

“As unemployment declines, we’re seeing full-time employment rise,” says Elizabeth C. McGaha, assistant director of ACS’s Research & Brand Strategy (RBS) department, which conducted the survey. That suggests that chemists are finding jobs in full-time positions—defined as at least 35 hours of work per week—rather than having to make do with part-time jobs. What’s more, the percentage of chemists holding part-time positions keeps dropping, and the percentage in postdoc positions is about the same in 2013 as it was last year. “That’s good news,” McGaha says, “because in previous years we were concerned that unemployment was being mitigated by underemployment.”

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at 

via 2013 Salaries & Employment | September 23, 2013 Issue – Vol. 91 Issue 38 | Chemical & Engineering News.