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[email protected] C&EN home page: http://pubs.acs.org/cen EDITOR: Madeleine Jacobs MANAGING EDITOR: Rudy M. Baum SENIOR CORRESPONDENTS: Lois R. Ember, Wilbert C. Lepkowski NEWS EDITOR: Janice R. Long EDITOR-AT-LARGE: Michael Heylin CONTRIBUTING EDITOR: James H Krieger ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT: Patricia Oates BUSINESS William J. Storck, Assistant Managing Editor Northeast (732) 90&8300. Marc S. Reisch (Senior Editor), Elisabeth Kirschner (Associate Editor), George Peaff (Associate Editor), Rachel Eskenazi (Administrative Assistant). Houston: (281) 486-3900, Ann M. Thayer (Bureau Head), (281) 496-6382, Paige Marie Morse (Associate Editor). Hong Kong: 8522984-9072 Jean-François Tremblay (Associate Editor). London: 44 181 8700884. Patricia Layman (Senior Editor). GOVERNMENT David J. Hanson, Bureau Head Washington: (202) 8724495. Bette Hileman (Senior Editor), Jeffrey W. Johnson (Senior Editor), Linda R. Raber (Associate Editor) SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY/EDUCATION Pamela S. Zurer, Assistant Managing Editor Washington: (202) 8724505. Rebecca L. Rawls (Senior Correspondent), Stuart A. Borman (Senior Editor), Mairin B. Brennan (Senior Editor), Doron Dagani (Senior Editor), A. Maureen Rouhi (Senior Editor), Sophie L. Wilkinson (Associate Editor). Northeast: (732) 9063301. Stephen C. Stinson (Senior Editor). Chicago: (773) 463-2371. Mitch Jacoby (Assistant Editor). West Coast (510) 849-0575. Elizabeth K. Wilson (Associate Editor). London: 44 1256811052. Michael Freemantle (Senior Editor). ACS NEWS William G. Schulz (ACS News Editor), Diana L. Slade (Editorial Assistant) EDITING & PRODUCTION Ernest L. Carpenter, Assistant Managing Editor Robin M. Giroux (Senior Editor), Janet S. Dodd (Associate Editor), Arlene Goldberg-Gist (Associate Editor), Julie L. Grisham (Associate Editor), Stephen K. Ritter (Associate Editor), Rita E. Johnson (Assistant Editor). GRAPHICS & PRODUCTION Alan Kahan (Head), Phillip Payette (Art Director), Linda Mattingly (Staff Artist) Composition Systems: Vincent L. Parker (Manager), Robin L. Braverman (Assistant) CIRCULATION Circulation Manager: Scott Nathan ADVISORY BOARD Jeannene Ackerman, Steven W. Baldwin, Marvin Cassman, E. Gary Cook, Debbie C. Crans, Samuel J. Danishefsky, James E. Evans, Slayton A. Evans Jr., Michael J. Ferris, Marye Anne Fox, Mary L. Good, Carlos G. Gutierrez, Dudley R. Herschbach, J. Roger Hirl, Robert J. Huggett, Robert S. Langer, Stephen J. Lippard, Leo E. Manzer, Gary L. Mossman, Hans C. Noetzli, Jane Margaret O'Brien, Don H. Olsen, Janet G. Osteryoung, Gregory A. Petsko, Alan Schriesheim, Richard E. Smalley, Enrique J. Sosa, Peter J. Stang, Kathleen C. Taylor, David A. Tirrell, Tamae Maeda Wong Published by AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY (202) 872-4600; TDD (202) 872-4432 John Kistler Crum, Executive Director Robert D. Bovenschulte, Director, Publications Division EDITORIAL BOARD Michael P. Doyle (Chair); ACS Board of Directors Chair: Joan E. Shields; ACS President: Paul S. Anderson; Ronald Breslow, Lura J. Powell, Eisa Reichmanis, Paul H. L. Walter
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Good News, Bad News
T
his year's annual survey of the salary and employment status of American Chemical Society members has some encouraging news for the first time in several years. The rate of unemployment among ACS members has dropped from 3.0% in the 1996 survey to 2.0% as of March 1, 1997. Other measures, such as the percentage of chemists who are employed part time or who are currently on postdoctoral or other fellowships, also declined. The bottom line is basically good news—the percentage of chemists who are employed full time climbed from 91.5% in 1996 to 93.5% this year. There are other signs of a somewhat improved job situation for the chemical workforce in this year's survey, as Editorat-Large Michael Heylin points out in this week's cover story (see page 13). Salaries, for example, have also improved compared to the previous year. But this is small solace if you're a chemist who has stopped seeking employment out of frustration; are unemployed, looking for work, and unable to find it; or are underemployed. The unemployment rate for chemists—which has ranged from 0.9 to 3.2% during the past 25 years—is always well below the Bureau of Labor Statistics' unemployment rate for the overall civilian workforce. But even at 2.0% unemployment, the chemical community, Heylin points out, "still has quite a way to go before it recovers to the more healthy employment situation that last prevailed from 1987 to 1990 when the unemployment rate for chemists responding to ACS surveys hovered at the 1.0% level." Also in the "good news, bad news" category is the issue of the "gender gap." Women have almost the same unemployment rate as men, but a much higher percentage of women—4.2% compared to 1.6% for men—are employed in part-time positions. More disturbing than the statistics on employment rates are the data on salaries. At all degree levels, men and women start out at almost the same salaries. But the gap grows quickly after that. Readers are always quick to point out that there are "legitimate" reasons for this salary gap—that salary medians for women are dragged down by those Views expressed
who take time off from their careers to raise children, that women have different kinds of jobs, that the shortfalls in the median salaries of older women chemists today are due to practices that no longer prevail, and that salary patterns can only change slowly. Most of us have heard these rationalizations before. However, the data still speak volumes. For instance, in industry at the B.S.- and M.S.-degree levels, higher salary medians for men still show up after about five years of experience. And although salaries of women Ph.D.s in industry closely track those of their male contemporaries for about the first 15 working years, they fall behind after that. Gender equity is one of several hotbutton topics among C&EN's readers. Just last week, a reader wrote to complain about the June 30 issue: "There are 23 photos of males and three photos of females. Have you heard of gender equity?" Assistant Managing Editor for Science/Technology/Education Pamela Zurer tackles such questions in Science Insights—"Where are the women?" (see page 41). Zurer points to Senior Editor Maureen Rouhi's report on the 35th National Organic Chemistry Symposium held last month in San Antonio (see page 32). Only one woman was among the dozen speakers. A video shown at the symposium concentrated on the "elder statesmen" of organic chemistry. Again, not a woman in the group. Whenever I raise these issues, I'm told this situation will correct itself— that it's a pipeline issue, that women will soon catch up. I've been hearing this for 30 years. In chemistry, women now receive almost a third of all Ph.D. degrees—and this number has been substantial for some time. But they remain strikingly underrepresented on the faculties at major research universities. The employment situation for chemists will truly be improved the day an editor can write about it and not call the column, "Good News, Bad News."
Editor
on this page are those of the author
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those of ACS
JULY 28, 1997 C&EN 5
