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[email protected] C&EN home page: http://pubs.acs.org/cen EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Madeleine Jacobs MANAGING EDITOR: Rudy M. Baum ART DIRECTOR: Robin L. Braverman SENIOR CORRESPONDENTS: Lois R. Ember, Wilbert C. Lepkowski NEWS EDITOR: Janice R. Long ONLINE EDITION EDITOR: Melody Voith EDITOR-AT-LARGE: Michael Heylin ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT: Patricia Oates PROGRAM ASSISTANT: Rebecca Walther BUSINESS William J. Storck, Assistant Managing Editor Northeast: C732) 9068300. Michael McCoy (Senior Editor), Marc S. Reisch (Senior Editor), Ronald S. Rogers (Associate Editor), Rachel Eskenazi (Adrninistrative Assistant). Houston: (281) 486-3900, Ann M. Thayer (Bureau Head), (281) 4966382, Paige Marie Morse (Associate Editor). Hong Kong: 852-2984-9072. JeanFrancois Tremblay (Bureau Head). London: 4A 181 8706884. Patricia Layman (Senior Editor) GOVERNMENT David J. Hanson, Assistant Managing Editor Washington: (202) 872-4495. 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 Correspondent), Mairin B. Brennan (Senior Editor), Doron Dagani (Senior Correspondent), A. Maureen Rouhi (Senior Editor), Sophie L. Wilkinson (Associate Editor). Northeast: (732) 906-8301. Stephen C. Sanson (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 Phillip Payette (Design Consultant), Iinda Mattingly (Staff Artist), Composition Systems: Vincent L. Parker (Manager) CIRCULATION Circulation Manager: Scott Nathan ADVISORY BOARD Jeannene Ackerman, Steven W. Baldwin, Ronald Breslow, Vincent A. Calarco, Marvin Cassman, Margaret A. Cavanaugh, Debbie C. Crans, Frank L. Douglas, John G. Ekerdt, Slayton A. Evans Jr., J. Michael Fitzpatrick, Renee G. Ford, Mary L. Good, Carlos G. Gutierrez, Dudley R. Herschbach, J. Roger Hirl, Robert J. Huggett, Robert S. Langer, Robert L. Lichter, Stephen J. Lippard, Leo E. Manzer, Gary L. Mossman, Hans C. Noetzli, Jane Margaret O'Brien, Gregory A. Petsko, Douglas J. Raber, Alan Schriesheim, Ian Short, Richard E. Smalley, Gabor A. Somorjai, Enrique J. Sosa, Kathleen C. Taylor Published by AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY (202) 872-4600; TDD (202) 8724432 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 H. L. Walter; Paul S. Anderson, Lura J. Powell, Elsa Reichmanis, Ed Wasserman © Copyright 1998, American Chemical Society Canadian GST Reg. No. R127571347
Help Wanted
I
recently examined unemployment data for the past four decades and compared the unemployment rate for chemists with the unemployment rate for the general workforce. The overall picture that emerged was not particularly surprising. When the U.S. economy has been robust, employment for chemists has generally been healthy. When the U.S. economy has been in recession, the unemployment rate for chemists has generally increased. But in good economic times or bad, the unemployment rate for chemists has been substantially below the national unemployment rate, and rarely has that rate moved upward when the unemployment rate for the nation as a whole has declined. Thus, there is reason to be concerned by this year's annual survey of the salary and employment status of American Chemical Society members. Although salaries for full-time employed chemists are up 3.2% from last year, the unemployment rate among chemists has increased slightly, from 2.0% in March 1997 to 2.3% in March 1998. This runs counter to the national trend for the general workforce. Unemployment in the total civilian labor force dropped from 5.1% in March 1997 to 4.5% in March 1998—the lowest in a generation. The slight deterioration for chemists this year also is reflected in the percentage of survey respondents who indicated they were unemployed at some time during 1997, according to Editorat-Large Michael Heylin, who wrote this week's cover story (see page 17). This figure was 5.8% in March 1998, compared with 5.0% who reported in March 1997 that they were unemployed at some time during 1996. Heylin points out that from 1988 to 1990—the latest really strong employment years for chemists—the unemployment rate for chemists was 1.0%. At that time, the unemployment rate for the overall civilian labor force was just over 5%—a fivefold edge for chemists. This year, the advantage is down to just two to one. Chemists have also lost the employment edge they used t o have over the Bureau of Labor Statistics' managerial and professional category. For 1988 to 1990, 1.9% of this g r o u p w a s u n e m p l o y e d . For this March, it is 1.8%. Over the same periViews expressed
od, the unemployment rate for chemists has gone from 1.0% to 2.3%. All of this flies in the face of what appears to be a solid overall economy and strong hiring activity for chemists. Campus recruiting for chemists has been buoyant, the volume of help-wanted ads in C&EN has been running ahead of last year, and the latest ACS survey of starting salaries for newly graduated chemists and chemical engineers seemed to indicate an improved job market (C&EN, March 9, page 45). The findings in this year's salary and employment survey reinforce concerns reflected in letters to the editor. While organic chemists who are experienced in drug discovery and combinatorial chemistry are sought after, other chemists have found the going rough. Moreover, large companies continue to reengineer and restructure, laying off large numbers of experienced chemists. Heylin raises the correct questions: "What is the meaning of the erosion in the big advantage that chemists have traditionally held over the workforce in general as well as over other professional and managerial groups in terms of job availability? Is it a statistical aberration and so not real, or, at least, not as bad as it looks? Or, if it is real and significant, is it a permanent thing?" It's easy t o pose the questions, more difficult to answer them. Help is definitely wanted and needed to unravel what is really going on in the employment situation for chemists. We welcome your thoughts.
Summer reading On a lighter note, C&EN is publishing in this issue a short story titled, "Meeting" by Shirley Lin, a chemistry graduate student at Stanford University (see page 59). Lin wrote the story as an assignment in a creative writing course given by chemistry professor Carl Djerassi. Several readers who learned about the course in C&EN asked if we would consider publishing one of the stories. It is the first time in C&EN's 75-yearhistory that we have published fiction. We hope you enjoy it.
Editor-in-chief
on this page are those of the author
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JULY 27, 1998 C&EN 5
