The job market for chemical scientists remains depressed for the fifth straight year — though better than for the nation as a whole — but employed chemists have enjoyed solid salary increases, according to the Nov. 7 Employment Outlook section in Chemical & Engineering News. C&EN is the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society. Industrial and academic market leaders told the newsmagazine that hiring levels will roughly approximate those of last year or be slightly lower. While the hiring picture is not promising, there are some bright spots, the C&EN survey found. Some companies are planning to increase hiring and universities and colleges are recruiting for some academic positions. The outlook has been significantly affected by sharp rises in the price of petroleum products that have sent feedstock, material and transportation costs off the charts, mainly due to a record-breaking hurricane season that has battered refineries in the Gulf Coast region, C&EN notes. It’s still early in the hiring season, which coincides with the academic year, and the picture could change if the industry recovers more rapidly than expected from the disasters, according to the newsmagazine. The magazine, in preparing the special section, looked at the annual ACS Salary Survey, ACS New Graduate Survey, job placement efforts, employer demand for adding employees, and unemployment trends. C&EN concluded that all indicators point to continuing difficulties for chemists looking for fulltime jobs.
