Manning a Technical A g e Item: Government research programs estimated at over one billion doliars in 1 9 5 9 will require some two thirds of all available scientists and technicians.
u. s.
Item:
Eleven engineers per 1000 workers in 1 9 3 0 Fifteen engineers per 1000 workers in 1 9 5 0
Item: Normal peacetime estimate of engineers needed annually:
30,000
I
Item:
Demand for engineers in 1951 : 95,0001 graduated: 38,000
Item:
Estimated need for engineers in 1953: 33,000 Estimated engineers graduating in 1953: 17,000
all but the first of these itenis, which came from the F E p t e m b e r 1951 issue of Fortune, we can thank the responsibly documented studies of the Engineering Manpower Commission of the Engineers Joint Council. This organization has become aroused to the critical danger that looms ahead for one of our most vital resources-our technical brainpower. Will conventional precedents sufficc to overcome this staggering deficit? We dare not assume so. The time has come-it is overdue-to analyze the whole pattern of our economy-to assess the part played by the technical man in making it work and grow. Our chemical process industries, established through technical inspiration and dependent upon it for their competitive survival, are more vitally involved than any other industrial segment. Our leaders have been quick to recognize the need and have urged military deferment policies permitting best use of technical manpower. They have been successful in part, but the need ahead cannot be met by the most enlightened administration of the Selective Service system. Additional actions must be taken. The long-range perspective requires that we do a better job of telling the student in the primary and secondary schools of his opportunities and of the national need in the fields of science and technology. As our society becomes more highly industrialized, tomorrow’s leaders must have technical skills in addition to sound common sense to make wise decisions. Part of today’s problems come from the very fact that this need exists now, and men of talent are being drawn from the laboratory and plant so that today more than a third of all professionallytrained engineers, for example, occupy posts in management, sales, and many other branches. Not too long ago such jobs were occupied largely by nontechnically trained men. If we are to succeed in persuading more students to enroll in science courses, the social incentives must be clear and adequate. The social prestige of the professional chemist and chemical engineer is at an all-time high, and compares not unfavorably with the other recognized professions. He is the modern miracle worker, and the public has the flattering and frequently justified faith that he can attain any physical objective he sets out to reach. If the basic attraction of a chemical career is to be increased, it must come from within the pattern of the work itself. And in the chemical field particularly, the overwhelming majority work as salaried employees of organizations. Americans in the past have not been particularly class con-
scious, but any one a t all familiar with present economics knows that the salaried professional employee in many instances has suffered with others in the middle class in the income distribution shifts of the past few decades. The graduate chemist or chemical engineer emerges from four to seven years of expensive college training and not infrequently is placed in charge of skilled labor whose income is in excess of his. Moreover, the chemist or chemical engineer must anticipate a t least a few years of internship before his income begins to exceed that received by much of the skilled labor that he is called upon to direct, The tax situation penalizes the professional man or woman because no provision is made for amortizing the expenses incurred in obtaining a college degree or degrees. If the college graduate ultimately is successful and his income rises into the higher brackets, the income tax structure is such that he again is penalized when comparison is made with the skilled laborer. Monetary return is one of the prime factors that youth is considering today. It is not the only factor, however. The present disturbed state of the world is causing many a young man or woman to forego the rigorous years of training required by the professions. The young man who feels that be may be called upon at almost any moment to serve his country in uniform ie very likely to look with little interest on a career that will require from four to seven years of exhausting study. Professionally, the team pattern essential in modern industrial research robs the chemist or chemical engineer of much of the personal recognition so deeply satisfying to him. Even his contributions to the literature usually are made with one or more coauthors. The administrator of a chemical company would do well to look closely a t this situation. Are salryy scales overlapping dangerously? Is it really necessary in the industrialized frsmework to constrict so far the freedoms normally qsociated with the professions? These freedoms compensate in large measure for the responsibilities a person acceptswhen he enters a profession. The administrator should extend his utilization of the technical talent he can obtain. The most difficult period in the career of many a professional man comes after his first employment, when responsibilities are often added slowly and his work requires too few of the skills for which he has been trained. As he progresses further, administrative chores, essentially clerical, may steal half or more of his average work day. If we could increase by 10 per cent the technical productivity of our staffs, the crisis we face would disappear-at least for tomorrow. Here is an approach that only the administrator himself can test. The problem is so serious that it should be tried. We would like to see a convocation held on this subject. In such a setting our industrial, academic, and governmental leaders could pool their thoughts and experience for conserving and using most effectively our most precious resource-ar technical manpower. Unless we solve the manpower problem, it may prove the limiting factor that controls our harvest from the endless frontier of science.
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