News Release

Chemists' pay rises at three times the rate of the Consumer Price Index

Peer-Reviewed Publication

American Chemical Society

Median salary hits $68,000 in 1999 survey

Chemical professionals' salaries rose 4.6 percent in the past year, according to the American Chemical Society's annual survey of its members, reported in this week's issue of Chemical & Engineering News. The world's largest scientific society, the American Chemical Society includes nearly 159,000 chemical scientists in its membership.

The increase - more than triple the 1.5 percent increase in the cost of living over the 12-month period ending in March 1999 - brings the median salary for chemists and chemical engineers to $68,000. Salaries have risen 7.9 percent since March 1997, well in excess of the 3.1 percent rise in the Consumer Price Index posted over the two-year period.

Salaries are highest in the Northeast, perhaps reflecting regional variations in the cost of living. Though the number of women in the profession continues to grow, they earn less than their male counterparts. During the period covered by the 1999 survey, the median salary was $72,000 for men and $53,700 for women chemists and chemical engineers.

The unemployment rate of chemical professionals was 2.3 percent during the 12-month period covered by the 1999 survey, compared with 4.2 percent for all U.S. workers. Though well above the profession's historic low of 1 percent, enjoyed in the late 1980s, this rate of unemployment is the same as the year before and compares favorably to the profession's historic high - just over 3 percent, reached most recently in 1996. The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts unemployment for all managerial and professional workers - the category where chemists fall - at just 1 percent.

The 1999 survey was based on 10,605 responses to 20,951 questionnaires sent to a random sample of about 100,000 ACS members who reside in the United States, are less than 70 years old, and are not emeritus, retired or student members.

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A nonprofit organization with a membership of nearly 159,000 chemists and chemical engineers, the American Chemical Society publishes scientific journals and databases, convenes major research conferences, and provides educational, science policy and career programs in chemistry. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.


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