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NSF PR 98-64 - October 6, 1998
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NSF: Most Science and Engineering Degree Holders Employed
in Non-S&E Occupations
Nearly twice as many people with degrees in science
and engineering (S&E) fields were employed in non-S&E
occupations as were employed in S&E jobs in 1995,
according to data collected by the National Science
Foundation (NSF)'s Division of Science Resources Studies
(SRS).
A new NSF Data Brief shows that the S&E workforce
reached nearly 3.2 million in 1995 - of which 83 percent,
or 2.6 million people, had received their highest
degrees in an S&E field. At the same time, however,
about 4.7 million people whose highest degrees were
in S&E fields were working in non-S&E occupations.
This is one of the first opportunities we have had
to examine occupations as they relate to the field
in which job holders were educated," said the author,
R. Keith Wilkinson. The information came from the
NSF's Scientists and Engineers Statistical Data System
(SESTAT), a unified database recording employment,
education and other characteristics of the nation's
scientists and engineers. The data are collected from
three component surveys sponsored by the NSF and conducted
every two years.
Engineers accounted for 42 percent (1.34 million)
of the total S&E workforce. Computer and mathematical
scientists made up 30 percent (950,000); followed
by social scientists (317,500), life scientists (305,300)
and physical scientists (274,300). More than half
the S&E degree holders employed in non-S&E occupations
were in fields such as management/administration,
sales and marketing, and non-S&E-related teaching.
Of this group, about two thirds - 80 percent of those
holding doctorates and master's degrees and 60 percent
of those holding bachelor's degrees - said that their
work was at least somewhat related to their degree.
Nearly three fifths (58 percent) of those who were
working in S&E fields said their highest degree was
a bachelor's, while 28 percent listed a master's and
13 percent reported a doctorate. Most bachelor's and
masters degree holders had jobs as either engineers
(49 and 40 percent, respectively) or computer and
mathematical scientists (34 and 30 percent, respectively).
Doctorate holders were employed primarily as social
scientists (27 percent), life scientists (25 percent),
and physical scientists (19 percent).
The data also showed:
- The unemployment rate for S&E degree-holders
was less than half the overall national average
- 2.2 percent for those working in S&E, and 2.8
percent for S&E degreeholders in non-S&E occupations,
versus 5.6 percent for the U.S. labor force as
a whole in 1995.
- The private sector is by far the largest employer
of S&E workers - 72 percent for those with bachelor's
degrees, 59 percent for those with master's degrees.
The academic sector is the largest employer of
those with doctorates (43 percent).
- Educational institutions employed the largest
proportion of life scientists (49 percent) and
social scientists (44 percent).
- Bachelor's degree-holders working full-time in
S&E occupations had an average annual salary of
$48,000; master's recipients made $53,000 and
doctorate holders made $58,000. Engineers earned
the highest salaries at each degree level, followed
by computer and mathematical scientists at the
bachelor's and master's level, and physical scientists
at the doctoral level.
Editors: For the complete Data Brief,
see: http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/databrf/db98325.htm
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