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Description
The job market for scientists and engineers has moved to the forefront of national policy concerns for the first time since the launching of the Sputnik satellite in 1957. Diverse business, education, and science groups have issued Cassandra-style reports on the state of U.S. science and engineering. The most prominent of these, the National Academy of Science's "Rising Above the Gathering Storm" (2006), suggested that the United States risked losing its leadership in science and technology, with dire consequences for the economy and for national security; the report called for increased R and D spending and new policies to attract more young Americans into science and engineering careers. Concurring with these assessments, President Bush in his 2006 State of the Union Address announced the American Competitiveness Initiative to "ensure a continuous supply of highly trained mathematicians, scientists, engineers, technicians, and scientific support."
My recent research on the science-engineering job market has focused on exactly what has generated the widespread worry about the market for scientists and engineers and what changes in the career prospects for scientists and engineers might insure future supplies of such workers.
What! Me Worry?
Concerns about the science and engineering job market are not rooted in a classic labor market shortage. The earnings of scientists and engineers are not rising rapidly, relative to other highly educated workers. There are no massive job vacancies in academe, business, or government. If rapidly rising pay is the primary signal of a market shortage, then the United States has a shortfall of CEOs, professional athletes, entertainers, and hedge fund managers, not scientific and engineering specialists.
The number of science and engineering workers in this country has increased at an annual rate of 2.7 percent--which far exceeds the rate of growth of the work force. The number of bachelors and masters graduates in the fields has trended upward. The supply of Ph.D.s in science and engineering has roughly stabilized at about 28,000 per year, more than enough to keep the stock of Ph.D. specialists rising.
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