Career Path Forecast
 According to the U.S. Department of Labor,
Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment
of chemists is expected to grow 9 percent over
the 2006-16 decade, about as fast as the average for all occupations.
Job growth will occur in professional, scientific, and technical
services firms as manufacturing companies continue to outsource their
R&D and testing operations to these smaller, specialized firms.
Chemists should
experience employment growth in pharmaceutical and biotechnology
research, as recent advances in genetics open new avenues of treatment
for diseases. Employment of chemists in the nonpharmaceutical chemical
manufacturing industries is expected to decline over the projection
period, along with overall declining employment in these industries.
Within the chemical
manufacturing industries, job growth for chemists is expected to be
strongest in pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms. Biotechnological
research, including studies of human genes, continues to offer
possibilities for the development of new drugs and products to combat
illnesses and diseases that have previously been unresponsive to
treatments derived by traditional chemical processes. Stronger
competition among drug companies and an aging population are
contributing to the need for new drugs.
 The
remaining chemical manufacturing industries are expected to employ fewer
chemists as companies divest their R&D operations. To control costs,
most chemical companies, including many large pharmaceutical and
biotechnology companies, will increasingly turn to scientific R&D
services firms to perform specialized research and other work formerly
done by in-house chemists. As a result, these firms will experience
healthy growth. Also, some companies are expected to conduct an
increasing amount of manufacturing and research in lower-wage countries,
further limiting domestic employment growth. Quality control will
continue to be an important issue in chemical manufacturing and other
industries that use chemicals in their manufacturing processes.
Chemists also will be
employed to develop and improve the technologies and processes used to
produce chemicals for all purposes, and to monitor and measure air and
water pollutants to ensure compliance with local, State, and Federal
environmental regulations. Environmental research will offer many new
opportunities for chemists. To satisfy public concerns and to comply
with government regulations, chemical manufacturing industries will
continue to invest billions of dollars each year in technology that
reduces pollution and cleans up existing waste sites. Research into
traditional and alternative energy sources should also lead to
employment growth among chemists.
 New
chemists at all levels may experience competition for jobs, particularly
in declining chemical manufacturing industries. Graduates with a
bachelor's degree in chemistry may find science-related jobs in sales,
marketing, and middle management. Some become chemical technicians or
technologists or high school chemistry teachers. In addition, bachelor's
degree holders are increasingly finding assistant research positions at
smaller research organizations.
Graduates with an
advanced degree, and particularly those with a Ph.D., will enjoy better
opportunities. Larger pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms will offer
more openings for these workers. Furthermore, chemists with an advanced
degree will continue to fill most senior research and upper management
positions; however, similar to other occupations, applicants face strong
competition for the limited number of upper management jobs.
 In
addition to jobs openings resulting from employment growth, some job
openings will result from the need to replace chemists and materials
scientists who retire or otherwise leave the labor force, although not
all positions will be filled.
During periods of
economic recession, layoffs of chemists may occur -- especially in the
industrial chemicals industry. Layoffs are less likely in the
pharmaceutical industry, where long development cycles generally
overshadow short-term economic conditions. The traditional chemical
industries, however, provide many raw materials to the automotive
manufacturing and construction industries, both of which are vulnerable
to temporary slowdowns during recessions.
Note: Some resources in this section are provided by the US Department
of Labor,
Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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