M I X E D SALARY PICTURE FOR LITERATURE C H E M I S T S
Mixed Salary Picture for Literature Chemists DAVID A. H. ROETHEL American Chemical Society. 1155 Sixteenth St.. N.W.. Washington. D. C. 20036 Received October 22, 197 1 Compensation patterns among literature chemists tend to b e different from those for the chemical profession as a whole. Ph.D.s generally earn more than other chemists, while bachelors and masters earn less. M o r e than 40% of these specialists are women, as against 7% over-all. Both men and w o m e n literature chemists’salaries, while different from each other, are higher than for the chemical profession generally. Literature chemists’salaries tend to plateau earlier than for the rest of the profession. Otherwise, salary factors such as type of employer, work activity, and field of training affect their salaries in about the same way they do for all of the profession. A major exception is the finding that government salaries are considerably better than those for industry and also higher than salaries paid generally for chemists in government employ.
Literature chemists with a doctors degree earned considerably more in 1971 t h a n t h e average U.S. chemist. Conversely, bachelors a n d masters degree holders were paid somewhat less. Specifically, P h . D . members a n d affiliates of t h e Division of Chemical Literature reported a 1971 median salary of $19,900, 8.7% higher t h a n t h e $18,300 profession wide median published earlier this year by ACS (C&EN, J u n e 21, 1971, p. 64). Likewise, their total income of $21,300 was l l P 7 ~higher t h a n t h e national figure of $19,100 (Table I ) . Doing less well were literature chemists with a bachelors degree who reported a 1971 median salary of $14,700, some 2.0% under t h e $15,000 national figure. Their total income was $15,000, however. Economically, masters degree holders in t h e Division were virtually indistinguishable in many cases from bachelors. Their median salary of $14,700, for example, was t h e s a m e as bachelors, a n d their total income was only marginally higher at $15,200. Moreover, a n examination of M.S. degree holders’ salaries a t five percentile levels shows figures on a par with or even less t h a n comparable salaries for bachelors. Behind such general findings, though, lie other professional a n d economic d a t a which help t o explain these mixed observations, a n d which also would appear t o more t h a n amply justify this first salary survey among t h e Division’s members. Some of their professional characteristics, for example, differ considerably from those of t h e profession as a whole. Principal among these is t h e finding t h a t there are many more women literature chemists (43.5%) t h a n in t h e profession generally (6.9%). And despite legislative efforts, Womens Lib, a n d a general movement towards standardization of salaries between t h e sexes, many women continue t o earn less t h a n men. Some observers point out, though, t h a t women more frequently can be found in historically low paying positions. At any rate, men literature chemists with a bachelors degree reported a median of $17,400, whereas t h e salary for women was only $13,900, a 25% difference. Interestingly, though, both sexes’ salary figures are more t h a n $2,000 higher t h a n t h e comparable over-all medians reported t o ACS nationally by men a n d women chemists for 1971. Also, a t t h e national level, t h e gulf between men a n d women B.S. chemists’ salaries was wider-3470 ( T r b l e 11). T h e s a m e general observations hold true for Division members with a masters degree, although differences from national patterns are less pronounced. Among doctorate holders in chemical literature, t h e picture brightens. Not only is t h e differential between mens’ a n d womens’ salaries smaller (14.3%), but t h e salaries themselves are consider-
ably above national medians. Male Ph.D.s reported a median of S20,OOO a n d women $17,500. In comparison, t h e ACS national figures were S18,SOO and S14,100 respectively. Literature chemists differ from most other chemists in another major way. For t h e profession as a whole, approximately 40% of chemists have bachelors degrees, 20% have masters, a n d 40% are doctors B u t among Division of Chemical Literature survey respondents, t h e distribution is about 30-40-30%. In large p a r t , though, this may b e a reflection of t h e finding t h a t more t h a n 40% of t h e Division’s members are women, only 14% of whom hold doctors degrees. Too, in t h e field of chemical literature there are apt t o be larger numbers of women with degrees in a library or information science and, as found elsewhere in this survey, salaries for such functions can be as much as a $1,000 a year below t h e median for all literature chemists.
OTHER SALARY PARAMETERS A number of factors can affect t h e chemist’s earning power. In this regard, literature chemists are not too different from t h e remainder of t h e profession. Besides sex and degree, t h e parameters employed by ACS when analyzSalaries and Income of Literature Chemists
Table I.
Bachelors
Masters
Salar)
Income
Lower 1070 Lower 257~ Median Upper 2570 Upper 1070
S11.2 12.7
$
17.9 22.9
$11.0 $ 9.7 12.7 12.3 15.0 14.7 18.5 17.8 22.9 22.5
ACS median Lit. %difference
$15.0 -2.0
$15.1 $15.6 -0.7 -5.8
$16.0 $18.3 $19.1 -5.0 8.7 11.5
14.7
Salary
Doctors
Percentile
Income
Salary Income
9.7 $14.2 $15.0 12.4 16.8 17.4 15.2 19.9 21.3 18.5 24.3 25.9 23.5 28.1 30.0
Thousand- ol dollars
Table II
Men’s and Women’s Salaries Differ Widely Salar?
0.c Slen
Salar)
Women 7~Women
Salary Differences
$17,400 17,000
44.9 45.7 85.6
$13,900 13,800 17,500
55.1 54.3 14.4
25.290 23.2 14.3
-___.Men
B.S. M.S. Ph.D. Distribution
20,000
56.570
43.590
Journal of Chemical Documentation, Vol 1 1 , No. 4, 197 1
195
D. A. H . R O E T H E L Table 1 1 1 . Years
35
Experience Counts-Sometimes
Bachelors Total Literature
$14.0" . 13.7 15.4 14.5 18.5
$ -
12.9 15.0 14.5 15.6 15.2 16.8 -
-
-
Masters Total Literature
$ 9.4
13.6 13.5 15.5 16.0 14.4 17.0 13.7
512.0 14.4 15.0 15.8 15.5 16.1 -
a relatively early and somewhat definite upper limit on t h e compensation for these specialists (Table 111). T h e large majority, nearly two-thirds, of Division members in 1971 had received their degrees in chemistry, t h e survey found. This proportion would have been considerably higher, too-on t h e order of 80%-if M . S . degree holders were excluded. B u t conforming other observations, most masters reported their basic skills were acquired in t h e library a n d information science area, a n d as a consequence, only about 41% of respondents at this degree level had chemistry degrees. Otherwise, library or information science accounted for 18.8% a n d chemical engineering 4.7% of t h e group. 'The remaining 11.2% were classified as "Other" and included mathematics (0.270) and computer science (0.270)(Table I W . h'ot unlike t h e rest of t h e profession, most literature chemists were employed in industry, 61.9%. B u t while industry generally is t h e best paying employer of chemists, this survey placed it in a definitely secondary position behind government. Industrial salaries ranged from $14,400 for bachelors, through $15,000 for master, to $21,600 for Ph.D.s. In contrast, t h e 10.9% of government employed literature chemists received median salaries of $20,000, $17,700, a n d $22,800 respectively. Too, these are considerably above t h e ACS reported government salaries for all t h e profession in 1971. It was determined t h a t t h e experience frequency distribution of government respondents was
Doctors Total Literature
$ -
$16.5 20.0 20.0 21.5 21.0 -
15.1 17.3 17.7 20.1 20.0 24.3 20.2
-
' Thousands of dollars
ing salary d a t a include experience, field of training, type of employer, work activity, and geographic locale. With regard t o experience, a somewhat disturbing observation surfaced from this survey, namely t h a t t h e salaries of literature chemists plateau considerably earlier t h a n for t h e profession as a whole. T o illustrate, t h e salaries for most chemists show a levelling effect after 25 or 30 years of professional experience, whereas those for Division members exhibit this tendency a t about t h e 20 year level. Moreover, if only literature experience is considered, this levelling can be observed as early as after only 15 years. One conclusion seems to be t h a t t h e employers of literature chemists place Table IV.
Most Division Members Degreed in Chemistry Bachelors
Masters
Chemistry (65.3%)" Chemical Engineering (4.7%) Library/information science (18.8%) Other (11,270)~
Doctors % in
.
Salan."
in Field
Salary
Field
Salary
Field
$14.5 17.0
82.1 4.1 3.4 10.3
914.9 16.2 14.3 17.0
40.8 5.6 42.3
$20.0
83.3 3.8 0.8
'7,
70in
-
17.2
11.2
12.1
"Thousands of dollars. * T o t a l In field. all degrees. rlncludes mathematics (0.2%) and computer sciences (0.2701
Table V.
Other Salary Parameters
Bachelors
hfasters
Doctors
Employer
Median Salary'
F in Field
Median Salarq
7 c L" Field
Median Salan
7 c in Field
Industry (61.9%)" Educational Institution (13.4%) Government (10.9%) Nonprofit (10.970) Other (2.9%)
$14.4 20.0 14.4 -
71.4 4.0 10.9 10.9 2.7
$15.0
12.0 17.7 17.4 -
58.9 15.7 13.2 9.7 1.5
$21.6 16.3 22.8 19.1
55.6 20.3 7.5 12.8 3.8
$19.7 13.9 13.4 16.0
24.3 46.9 11.2 0.7 17.5
$18.5 14.2 13.3
24.5 34.7 30.6
524.6 17.9
-
1.5
16.0
8.7
15.9 19.7
$19.5 14.5 13.7 12.7 16.5 16.5 15.3
18.6 21.4 14.5 17.2 9.7 9.7 9.0
$18.0 13.5 14.0 13.1
22.8
-
Work Actirity
Management (28.8%) Information scientist (36.6%) Librarian (16.3%) Teaching (5.1%) Others (13.3%)
-
39.8 28.6 0.8 15.0 15.8
Specialty
Management (24.5%) Literature/patent search (20.9%) Library functions (18.3%) Abstracting (10.4%) Technical editing (7.4%) Computer programming (6.4%) Other (12.170)~ VThousands of dollars
196
IC in lield, ail degrees
* Includes 0 670 translating
Journal of Chemical Documentation. Vol 11. No 4. 1971
-
18.5 14.2
21.8 30.6 6.7 4.1 5.2 8.8
$24.8 17.5 -
19.4 17.4 -
19.5
33.3 18.9 4.5 8.3 9.8 4.5 20.5
M I X E D SALARY PICTURE FOR LITERATURE C H E M I S T S Table VI.
Literature Chemists Have Eastern Bias >Tasters
Bachelors
90in Field
hledian Salary
7~in Field
hledian Salan
-
14.5 17.5 15.2
-
2.1 39.3 17.2 30.3 2.1
-
0.7
-
-
2.8 0.0 5.5
-
4.1 41.8 17.0 21.3 4.6 1.0 2.1 0.5
$18.0 20.9 26.4 18.4 -
Median Salary
Kegm
a-
Sew England (4.7%)'' Middle Atlantic (40.4%) South Atlantic (17.0%) East North Central (24.7%) West North Central (3.4%) East South Central (1.770) West South Central (1.970) Mountain (0.4%) Pacific (5.7%) Thousands of dollars.
Doctors
15.0 19.0 14.3
-
-
13.4
-1.1
-
-
% in
Field
8.4 40.0 16.5 23.7 3.1 3.8 0.8 0.8 3.1
% in region. all degrees
similar t o t h a t of t h e total group, thereby eliminating t h e possibility of skewed d a t a as a reason for these major salary differentials. So it would a p p e a r t h a t t h e specialized services of literature chemists are valued by t h e Government. As expected, median salaries for literature chemists employed in educational institutions are somewhat lower t h a n t h e over-all figures. Salaries for Division members e m ployed in nonprofit institutions however, tended t o approxim a t e more closely those in industry. What literature specialists d o also turns out to be a n i m portant component of their compensation pattern. About one-fourth perform management functions, for which, not unexpectedly, they are best remunerated as a class. Bachelors reported a 1971 salary of $19,700, masters $18,500, a n d Ph.D.s $24,600 (Table V). T h e largest numbers of literature chemists, however. were employed as information scientists, about 37%. But their salaries were considerably lower: bachelors, $13,900, masters $14,200, a n d doctors $17,900, Some 16% of responding Division members indicated they functioned as librarians, a work activity which paid modestly at just over 313,000 for both bachelors a n d masters. Since fewer t h a n 1%of P h . D . s were so engaged, their median salary could not be calculated. T h e literature chemist's specialty is also of interest in examining his economic status. Reinforcing other find ings, those who identified their specialty as management were best paid of all. At t h e other end of t h e compensation spectrum, those doing literature a n d patents search work abstracting, or library functions are not particularly well paid, t h e survey found. So far as geographic variation among salaries is concerned, there were insufficient participants t o calculate medians in all U.S. census regions. Where figures could be developed, it seemed clear t h a t literature chemists in t h e South Atlantic S t a t e s did m u c h better t h a n t h e average a t $19,000, $17,500, a n d $26,400 for t h e three degree levels, respectively. Also, it is pertinent t o observe t h a t t h e Middle Atlantic States of New Jersey, New York, a n d Pennsylvania accounted for a far larger proportion of t h e chemical
Table VII.
Employment Status B.S
M.S
Ph.D.
Over-all
Full time employed Part-time employed Unemployed Subprofessionally employed Retired N o report
88.1% 87.1% 85.1% 86.8% 4.9 1.8 5.0 4.0 3.1 3.6 2.5 3.1 0.6 0.9 0.0 0.5 4.1 1.8 6.2 3.8 1.8 2.2 1.2 1.8
Over-all
30.370 40.7% 29.0%
literature group (40.4%) t h a n is generally true for t h e profession (28.3%) (Table VI).
EMPLOYMENT OUTLOOK In t h e current recessive era, chemists understandably have a greater concern about job security a n d opportunities for new employment. Responding to this situation, ACS conducted a national survey earlier this year to elicit pertinent facts about t h e employment status of its members. Similar surveys also were conducted by t h e National Science Foundation a n d t h e American Institute of Chemical Engineers. All three organizations reported essentially t h e same findings, namely, t h a t 3% of t h e chemical profession was unemployed. T h e Division of Chemical Literature survey did not produce any significantly different data. Among those responding, 3.1% were unemployed, 86.6% were full-time employed, and 4.0% were employed part-time. Perhaps most encouraging was t h e observation t h a t only 0.5% of t h e Division's members felt t h a t they were subprofessionally employed, whereas 2.4% of all ACS members had placed themselves in this category (Table VII).
THE SURVEY This survey was undertaken a t t h e request of t h e officers of t h e Division of Chemical Literature a n d with t h e COoperation of t h e ACS staff Office of Professional Relations. Questionnaires were distributed to 940 U.S. members and affiliates of t h e Division in late July. By t h e September 1 deadline, 558 forms had been returned, a 59.4% response (national ACS response for 1971 was similar, 60.970). Of these, 496 (89.4%) were from members, 45 (8.170)were from affiliates, and t h e remainder did not indicate their Divisional status. In t h e letter distributing questionnaires to members, t h e Division indicated t h e survey h a d two purposes. One was to promote t h e professional interests of its members. T h e second was t o provide benchmarks for professional evaluation a n d private comparison, both within t h e chemical literature field a n d with chemists in other fields of specialization. It would appear t h a t by virtue of members' participation in t h e survey a n d through observation of t h e resulting statistical d a t a both purposes were accomplished.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT T h e a u t h o r acknowledges t h e helpful services of Charles
R. Counts of t h e ACS staff who was responsible for distribution of survey questionnaires a n d compilation of statistical d a t a for this report. Journal of Chemical Documentation, Vol 1 1, No 4. 197 1
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