Research a n d Development Personnel In Industrial Laboratories M Y R O N J . R A N D , National Academy osf Sciences -National
Research Council, Washington, D. G
The man in the laboratory is a human national resource; as such h e has been the object of a study that should make for intelligent use of his talents
A HE importance of the research and development staff in American manufacturing industries needs no further demonstration than the vigorous productivity and ready adaptability of these industries. For behind the many new products and new production economies stand, ultimately, the scientists and engineers; they conceive and develop each process, and keep its busy machinery running smoothly. Without them, freely competitive industries cannot long exist. In times of national emergency, the research laboratory staffs are doubly vital. Their help is essential in the development and production of a wide variety of new and improved materials for the armed forces; and they represent technicallytrained, experienced manpower of a type without which no nation can w a g e modern warfare. Yet there are no adequate recent data on the size, location, and composition of this human national resource. Population studies of the research scientists and engineers in industry present problems not encountered in surveys of university or government laboratories. It is not easy to locate all t h e industrial laboratories. Most o f them have some functions which cannot be considered "research and development." There is no definition of "research and development" which is suitable for personnel classification and job assignment, and other laboratory administration; and many companies do not know how much they budgeted for scientific research in any year. The stion of what—or who—is a researcn rr. This classification, which is used t \tensively in Federal Government agencies and elsewhere, provides a fourdigit code number for the various manufacturing ami nonmanufacturing industries. The first two digits are used tor classification into major divisions: the third and fourth provide two further levels of subdivision. For example, code 28(K) represents the chemicals industry: 2810 designates "industrial inorganic chemicals." 2S20 is 'industrial organic chemicals," 2S>0 "drugs and medicines," etc. I'nder 2SK) an 2811 "sulfuric acid" and 2812 "alkalies .4nd chlorine." This system is ideally .suited tor punched-card coiling and analysis. The assignment of the full four digits to a company is sometimes arbitrary, particularly tor large organizations with a variety of products: but practically all the sorting done in this study used no more than three digits, and much only two. Often separate laboratories in large organizations were assigned different S. 1. C. numbers, so that the analyses would more accurately reflect the size of the research effort supported by various industries. Table III lists the industries selected for study, with the corresponding SIC code numbers. Those SIC numbers not appearing in the table represent businesses not
It should be remarked that the- "unclassified" scientists are not necessarily those not properly included in the other eight groups. The unclassified group is made up both oi scientists not classified by the responding companies and of scientists so assigned at the time of the study. A few companies were unwilling t o give the numbers of men in each discipline they employed, and some others did not know any figure but the total. It is doubted if there is any scientific field which will account for a very large percentage of the unclassified group. The remaining analyses which can h e made of the data concern the geographical location of the research staffs. Figure :> shows the ''densities" of professional scientists and engineers in industrial research in each state. Table V details these populations by scientific discipline, and gives in addition the supporting personnel and the numbers of laboratories. The concentration of industrial research in the northeastern quadrant of the country is very noticeable. More than half the scientists and engineers may b e found in five states—New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Ohio. Outside of this part of the country only California has comparable research activity. A significant, and possibly ominous, feature of the geographical distribution of industrial research is its concentration in large metropolitan centers. In Figure -4, the areas of the circles are proportional to the number of scientists and engineers in each metropolitan area ( 5 ) ; the high concentrations in the northeastern quadrant are further emphasized. Titbit- VI gives the numbers of professional and supporting personnel, and the numbers of res< arch laboratories, in all metropolitan a n a s having at least one hundred scientists and engineers engaged in industrial re-
usually thought of as "industries" and not included in the study. Figure 2 shows the numbers of professional scientific research workers ot the laboratory staffs of various industries, and Table IV details these by scientific discipline. The numbers of supporting personnel of the research staffs are also included in Table IV, and it is evident that a research staff requires 1 to 2 additional persons for every professional scientist or engineer. Only qualitative comparisons can be made between the data of Table IV and earlier figures (2) arrived at without the Standard Industrial Classification. As in 19 40. the chemicals industry leads in the number ot research workers employed. The communications industry' is now second, displacing petroleum and coal products to third place. The aircraft industry, which was ignominiously buried in a classification of miscellaneous transportation equipment in 1940, now ranks fourth in research. Another industry which has expanded considerably is the manufacture ot scientific instruments, apparatus, and equipment, including indicating and controlling devices. Independent consulting research laboratories continue to be major employers of technical men. The distribution of scientists of various kinds among the industries seems about that which could have been predicted. Chemists and engineers are used quite generally, with highest populations in the chemical and communications industries, respectively. The largest numbers of biologists and M.D.'s are found in the drug industry; or geologists, in the petroleum industry: or metallurgists, in the primary metals industry; of physicists in the communications industries. Excepting consultants, very few psychologists wen* found in industrial scientific research.
Table IV. Research Laboratory Personnel by Industry
Industry Minim* RailroadTtilttie* f ' o n s ' d t i n i s 1 ii V •oratories Trade associations Ordnance r'« «wt p r o d u c t * T«-a •«•••> p r o d u c e s *rV\i.n- mill p r o d u c t s t. iml»er an«l w o o d p r o d u c t s Furniture Ptt»er p r o d u c t * f'nnrinic a n d p u b l i s h i n g < 'heuiicaitndu*rrtal i n o r e a n i c a n d o r g a n i c I>r'ius a n d medicinesSortr.-.. cl»»an»*p«. t e x t i l e , auxiliaries F*ainr. v a r n i s h , lacquers, a n d inorganic pmim nt» O t h e r c h e m i c a l product* Petroleum and coal products Rubber Leather St«>ne. d a y . a n d fda.v* Primary metal industries f"-tb"i«*ated m e t u l product* Machinerv 'not electrical) Klei trical e q u i p m e n t < Communication.** Motor vehicles An re raft Instruments Scientific i n s t r u m e n t s Photographic equipment Other Miscellaneous manufacturing Miscellaneous nonmanufacturing
3606
Hiologist* '2
"\
Chemists
249 29
1499
2HJ 1* 7
1789
17
M.D.'B
133 86 91 108 78 66 468 41 20 731 38
97 1 5 1
2
884 131 689 18
9399 4242 1938 576
180 8 167 2
7
1288 1355 2633 1030
3 2 1
39 37 10 1 4 l> 20 JO 4
a 19 8 11 1 76
r»i
427 816 266 683 628 349 294 150 802 177 469 156 155 328
4
Engineers 130 286 249
7
1770
175 1
110 804 475 13 227 63 26 534 88
3474 2200 259 55 196 664
3208 762 24 682 579 658
6 20 12
3076 2311 8280 1603 3783 1770 1462
8 3 5
180 128 215 401
4 5 4
C.eologist>
Metalluririst*
Physicists
55 36 5 168 2 29
11 9 6 270 4 112 10
r,
1
l 1 3 7 4
3 302
41
8
Total Professional
5 9
343 427 351
108 9 24 319
4377
52 4
78.",
52 1
1378
1361 740 240 303 12 66 125 4
15632 7488 3313 1069 1567 2195 0577 1891
25 57 17 107 26 351 149 484 65 45
1259 2407 1093 1336 3623 9726 2399 4679 3338 2178
20 3 35
770 390 413 889
264
1047 2895 81
6 41 23 23 2
29 1 I 36 5 216 124 20 9 23 40 245 82
19 855 105 298 302 119 287 130 74 45 9 20 20 24
93 88 27 144 344 615 66 124 398 245 109 44 16 17
2 1 109 39
Psychol- Unclasogists sified
1 1 2
2 2
110 47 134
76 9 li 4 1
•> » 1 8 4• 184
•»
CHEMICAL
AND
2 3
6 3 3 1
ENGINEERING
Supiifirtiru: IVr. soiunl 454 063 32f. 47K1 291 101 1 2!Kl» 71 1 l.V> 10)1
«*o
1437 200 10114 I 8734 3i«20 013 151* S 207 « 1488 !!H.-» 72 1447 2.'i9.1404 .*i8V*4 034*< l2U2.-> 0387 11173 4411 303 « «.»87 388 3 7 .-i 02 «
(MEWS
fy^l I
100 1
-
Bdow
499
FIGURE 3
100
SCIENTISTS AND ENGINEERS IN INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH - 1950
Table V. Distribution by State Biologists Chemists Alabama Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Ttah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Others
VOLUME
RlctalM.D.'s KngineiT Geologists lurgists 68 6 11
139 6 31
1353
98 5 68 32 7 12 3 2 237 72 10
59 805 740 38 77 66 9
2388 703 79 69 126 142 59 261 986
12 5 2 30 61 134 18
1034 415
19 329
6 44 5
247
24 5 6 2 3 30 31 2
2711 1464
1 2 12 6 1
4 38 4 38
1
3425
63
3331
55
1932
6
"092
66 o
2 9, N O .
4
36
206 66 88 113 44 846
2 2 2 6
1268 1690 438 12 315
129 2 151 2 1 9 1 4 209 139 4
316 9 109 24 9
4 2 2 31 98 270 10
2
1 14
1 5 1
4500
8
7055
13
1 •
2711
39 1 129
3087
61 32 1 77
1 331
1128
15 6 262 408 154 584 22 4
» SEPTEMBER
2? 13
5 1 1 3
u 181 30 16 1 3 7 5 28 146 97 29
3 4
5 1 6 1 4 2 o
1 1 1
3,
1951
1 2 327 2 292 3 252 4 3 417 3
307 1 8^7 4 238 57 1 320 2 1
1 24 15
11 89
3 19 52 69
31 8 6 27
2
1
10
293 15 42
339 10 18
183 3 65 2 4 2 2 2 237 54 10 1 8 6
5173
6400
2949 1231
6021 1923
6002 2494
6023 4439
21 119 691 24
1220 2696 3926 949 40 738
1173 3337 7729 1094 36 828
17 62 7 57
3 38 1 91
22 2
2
14 2 16
425 18
270 18
2 6 2 1 6 11 3 39
5
290
79
95 45 1 142 492 20 4 255 180 245 473 13 17
4 ] 1 1
25
13
300 1 58 2 2 122 1
149 3 1 1 1 3
121
1743 427 51 37 61 2
71 2
1
2916
Supporting No. of Total Psycho- UnclasProfessional Personnel Laboratories sified Physicists logists
1 17
16
1 238
261 5 394 5 1 509 1
1
1
222 27 6 14 9 8 221 2
207
HI 147 136 19
329 138 248 227 112
110
131 119 117 12
504 111 159 552 116
9116
13133
12161
16555
5592
7067
6758
8941
2112
2*56
1419
1876
41
381
802 44
164 79 2 457
58 11 572 637 469
35 31
28
316 839 41
85 53 1 263 24 16 982 392 473
26 54
15 4 4 238 13 128 20 9 20 15 2 325 92 19 13 20 17 8 52 183 142 47
3 66
2 9 1 6 341 6 521 15 282 21 11 322 ii 8 1 24 66 7 4 31 34 21 97 2 4
3607
FIGURE 4 INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH SCIErHcTS AND ENGINEERS IN CITIES - 1950 vareh. I t is evident that more than 80' \ ol the laboratories and more than 90'. c of the rese;ireh workers are in or near the eiti. C. Waterlmry. C o n n . Wilmington. D e l . W i n s t o n - S a l e m . N. C. Woreester. M a s s . Younpjit
8 281 38 102 15 12 23 11 82 8 6 3 8 7
•>
7 6 25 21 28 8 19 5 132 18 46 34 62! s It..* 80 4 20 12 11 ••>•>
SI3 5 64 11 17 19 22 13 18 12 13 28 9 21 1 13 12
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