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OCCUPATIONAL
MOBILITY OF
SCIENTISTS
A STU DY of
C H EM IST S
B IO L O G IS T S
an d P H Y SIC IST S
w ith PH.D. DEGREES
Bulletin
UNITED
STATES
DEPARTMENT
Martin
P. D u r k i n ,
OF
LABOR
BUREAU
Secretary
http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/
UNITED
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
In
Ewan
Cooperation
STATES
OF
LABOR
Clague,
with.
DEPARTMENT
OF
DEFENSE
1121
STATISTICS
Com m issioner
OCCUPATIONAL MOBILITY OF SCIENTISTS
A STUDYof
CHEMISTS
BIOLOGISTS
and PHYSICISTS
with PH.D. DEGREES
http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/
For sale by the Superintendent of
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
D O TTED STA TE!
Ewan Clague, Com missioner
February 1 9 5 3
In cooperation with
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D. C.
Price 35 cents
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
United States Department of Labor,
Bureau of Labor S ta tistic s,
Washington, D.C., February25, 1953,
The Secretary of Labor:
I have the honor to transmit herewith a report on the
occupational m obility of chemists, b io lo g ists, and p h y sicists,
holding‘Ph.D. degrees. The study was conducted in the Bureau’s
Division of Manpower and Employment S ta tistic s in cooperation
with the United States Department of Defense. The coordinating
agency of the Department of Defense was the Manpower Branch,
Human Resources D ivision, O ffice of Naval Research.
The study was conducted and prepared by Theresa R. Shapiro.
Ewan Clague, Commissioner.
Hon. Martin P. Durkin,
Secretary of Labor.
ii
CONTENTS
Introduction . . .......................................... . . .....................................................
Summary and conclusions .................................... ........................ ............ .... • •
Scope and method ......................................................... ....................................
The sc ie n tists s tu d ie d ......................................................................
Measurement of m o b ility ........... .............................................................
Transfers between fie ld s of sp ecialisation ...........................................
The number of fie ld s in which the sc ie n tists had w orked....
Patterns of transfer between sp ecia lties .....................................
F irst and second sp ecia lties aS indicators o f exp erien ce...
The sp ecia lties of the f ir s t j o b s ......... ....................................
Role of education in determining s c ie n tis ts sp e cia ltie s . .
Some im plications .........................
Transfers between functions ..........................................................................
The extent of functional mobility'......................................................
Patterns of functional movemens ........................................................
Transfers between types of employers ........................................................
Geographic m obility ............................................................................................
Geographic movement as students ..........................................
Migration as em ployees..............
Comparison of State of employment with State o f education..
State and regional gains and lo sses ...............................................
Appendix..................................................................................................
Occupational outlook and related publications of the Bureau of
Labor S ta tistic s ...........................
Page
1
1
6
6
10
14
15
19
22
25
27
30
31
32
35
38
45
45
47
49
51
54
61
TEXT T A BLES
1.
2.
3.
4*
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
F ields of current employment of the sc ie n tists in the study,
1948 ....................................................................................................................
Types of employers for whom sc ie n tists were working, by
fie ld of highest competence, 1948 ......................................................
Region of current employment o f scien tists 3n the study and of
a ll Ph.D. chemists, b io lo g ists, and p h y sicists, X94<5 . . . .
D istribution o f sc ie n tists according to number of jobs and
number o f employers included in the s tu d y ......................
Age of s c ie n tis ts , by number o f jobs included in the stu d y..
Total number of employers for whom sc ie n tists had worked and
proportion of these employers covered by the study ...........
Number of general fie ld s of sp ecialisation in which scien
t is t s were employed on jobs included in the s tu d y .............
Number of sp ecific fie ld s of sp ecialization in which scien
t is t s were employed on jobs included in the s tu d y .............
General fie ld s of sp ecialization in which sc ie n tists worked
on a ll jobs included in study, by fie ld of sc ie n tists'
current employment................. .............................................................
Hi
7
8
9
11
12
13
16
18
20
iv
TEXT TABLES-CONTINUED
Page
Number of jobs scientists held in specific fields of
highest com petence................f ............................................
Percent of jobs included in study which were in the scien
t is t s ' fie ld s of highest and second highest competence.*
Comparison of sc ie n tists' fie ld of highest competence with
th eir fie ld of sp ecialization on f ir s t job ..........................
Comparison of major subjects for doctor's and bachelor's
degrees ....................................................................................................
S cien tists with bachelor's and doctor's degrees in same
major subject, by interval between award of bachelor's
and doctor's degree ............. .............................................................
Comparison of major subjects for bachelor's and doctor's
degrees with sc ie n tists' general fie ld s of highest com
petence ............................................................................................
Current functions performed by scientists in study, by
fie ld of highest competence, 1948 ......................... ..
Number o f functions performed by sc ie n tists on jobs in
cluded in s tu d y ......................*...........................................................
Number of functions performed by scientists on jobs in
cluded in study, by current function ..................
Comparison of previous functions with present function,for
sc ie n tists with 3 or 4 jobs in th is study ........................
Number of types of employers for whom scientists worked on
jobs included in s t u d y .... ............................
Number of types of employers for whom scientists worked on
jobs included in study, by type of current employer ....
Types of employers for whom sc ie n tists worked on second job
in study compared with type o f employer on f ir s t job . . .
Types of employers for whom sc ie n tists worked on third job
in study compared with type of employer on fourth job ..
Percent of sc ie n tists who received Ph.D.'s in same State as
bachelor's degree, and percent currently employed in
State of bachelor's degree « . . . , , . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Percent of sc ie n tists receiving Ph.D. in same region as
bachelor's degree, by region ........................................................
Number o f States in which sc ie n tists worked on jobs in
cluded in s tu d y ..................................................................................
Comparison o f State of f ir s t professional job and current
employment with State of bachelor's and doctor's degrees
Number of sc ie n tists granted bachelor's or doctor's degrees
or currently employed in each region .......................................
Number o f sc ie n tists granted a;bachelor's or doctor's de
gree or currently employed in each State, 1948 ..................
24
25
26
27
28
29
32
33
34
36
39
40
A3
AA
46
47
48
50
51
52
y
APPENDIX TABLES
Page
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Specific fields of specialization in which scientists cur
rently employed in chemistry, physics, and biology,
worked on all their jobs included in the s t u d y ........
Comparison of major subjects for doctor's and bachelor's
degrees ................... ............................
Major subject for Ph.D., by specific field of highest com
petence ................... .......................... .
Function on first job by current function, of scientists
having 3 or
jobs in study ..................... .
State of Ph.D., by State of bachelor's degree for scien
tists receiving Ph.D. and bacnelor's degrees in dif
ferent States ............................ .............
A
55
57
53
59
60
INTRODUCTION
The study of occupational mobi
lity can have a wide variety of pur
poses. It may contribute to the de
velopment of a realistic theory
of
vfages, the measurement of social
class fluidity,or an analysis of the
adjustment of the supply of labor to
changes in demand.
In the present
mobilization period, interest in mo
bility studies centers mainly on the
information they may provide regard
ing the actual and potential supply
of qualified workers in key occupa tions, such as the sciences or the
skilled trades, and the sources from
which additional workers can be re
cruited for fields of employment
suffering from critical shortages of
personnel. 1/
The present study is a first
attempt at research on the mobility
of scientists. Because it is a pilot
study, the aim has been to explore
as many different aspects of mobili
ty as possible and to test a variety
of analytical approaches. The sample
is both small and selective and the
study does not yield definitive an
swers to the complicated problems of
the supply and recruitment of scien
tists. It has been possible,however,
to reach broad conclusions concerning
the extent to which Ph.D. scientists
shift from one specialty to another,
between different types of scientific
functions, kinds of employers, and
parts of the counti*y.
1/ Other studies being carried
on by the Bureau of Labor Statistics
cover such occupations as tool and
die makers, molders, and electronics
technicians.
This report begins with a sum
mary of the findings and conclusions.
The scope and method of the study is
presented in the second chapter. The
third chapter analyzes the extent to
which scientists shift between scien
tific fields, the fields in which
they are employed when they transfer,
the value of scientists' reports of
their fields of highest competence
as 8n indication of their experience
in different specialties, and the
part which graduate and undergraduate
majors play in scientists’ careers.
The fourth and fifth chapters are
devoted to transfers among functions
and types of employers.
These sec
tions of the report deal with such
questions as:
In what kind of work
does a Ph.D. scientist normally begin
his professional career?
Does such
work influence his subsequent expe
rience?
Are scientists stereotyped
as teachers, research men, government
employees, or do they move freely
among these activities and types of
employers? The report concludes with
a discussion of scientists' gsograjhic
mobility, both as students and as
employees, and of the net effect of
their geographic movements in terms
of personnel gains and losses for
the areas in which they received
their education.
S u m m a r y a n d C o n c lu s io n s
Scope and Method.— This pilot
study analyzes the greater part of
the work histories of 1,122 Ph.D.’s
in chemistry, physics, and biology,
who constituted about 5 percent of
the Nation's Ph.D.’s in each of these
fields at the time of the survey in
194#. The analysis covers the first
professional position, the current
one, and the two
jobs
intermediate
- 1 -
- 2of longest duration.
The employers
for whom the scientists had worked
on these jobs represented slightly
more than four-fifths of all those
with whom they had held full-time
positions.
ology or chemistry. More than a third
of the men working in physics had
experience in another science, com
pared with 22 percent of those in bi
ology, and 15 percent of those em
ployed in chemistry.
Scientists were considered to
have changed jobs when they shifted
their field of specialisation, type
of activity, employer, or State of
employment, because this approach
facilitated the analysis of various
types of mobility considered in this
report. Hence, the number of employ
ers recorded was smaller than the
number of jobs (an average of 2.9
employers compared with 3.2 jobs per
scientist).
However, when all the jobs in
the study are considered together,
it is seen that such experience
covered only minor parts of the sci
entists* work histories.
Not more
than a third of the jobs recorded for
the men working in chemistry had been
outside the branch of chemistry in
which they were working at the time
of the study, and only a fourth
of
all the jobs recorded for the biol
ogists fell outside the particular
branch of biology in which they were
currently employed. Among scientists
employed in several specialties—
namely, organic chemistry, biochem
istry, botany, and entomology— the
proportion of jobs outside the spe
cific specialty of current employ
ment was lower than the average in
the corresponding disciplines.
Transfers Between Fields of Spe
cialization.— Studies of occupational
mobility have disclosed a fairly close
relation between the amount of train
ing required to enter an occupation
and the degree of attachment to it:
unskilled and semiskilled workers
tend to change occupations rather
frequently, but skilled workers and
professional people are characterized
by a high degree of occupational sta
bility.
In view of the long spe
cialized training Ph.D. scientists
receive, it would be expected that
their careers would be concentrated
within limited scientific areas.
Nevertheless, three-fifths of the
biologists and chemists in the study
(for whom this information could be
recorded) had some experience out
side the specific specialty (i.e.,
organic chemistry, bacteriology) in
which they were currently employed.
Moreover, one out of four specialists
in all three sciences covered by the
study had at sometime worked in
an
entirely different discipline. Physics
had drawn a higher proportion of men
from other sciences than either bi
Fields of Competence as Indi
cators of Experience.— Because Fh. D.' s
tend to specialize, the fields which
they consider those of their high
est competence are, in general, a
good indication of their experience.
All the scientists in the survey were
asked to check, on a list of speci
alties, their fields of highest and
second highest competence, because
one of the main purposes of the sur
vey of "American Men of Science" was
the preparation of a roster of key
scientists.
A comparison of the
fields of the jobs included in the
study with the specific fields re
ported as of first and second compe
tence showed only 4 percent of the
jobs to be outside these areas. Close
to two-thirds
all the jobs studied
<£
- 3were within the specific field
highest competence.
of
Some of the scientists' exper
ience outside their fields of highest
competence represented nothing more
than the first job adjustments of new
graduates. Fifty-two percent of these
first professional jobs,
compared
with 62 percent of all the jobs
studied,were in the specific fields
in which these scientists now con
sider themselves most competent. Some
16 percent of title first jobs, conpared with 9 percent of all the irecorded i jobs,were in entirely differ
ent disciplines from those -of the
scientists' first specialties.
The Role of Education in Deter
mining Scientists' Specialties.— For
most of these scientists, the inter
est in the branch of science in which
they had come to specialize was al
ready developed when they entered
their junior year in college. Four
out of five had majored both as
undergraduates and taken their Ph.D.
degrees in the branch of science
(chemistry, physics, or biology) in
which they considered themselves most
competent at the time of the survey.
For the 17 percent mho shifted
their major subject between
the
baccalaureate and the doctorate, the
major for the higher degree usually
proved to be the more important in
later life. Fourteen percent, how
ever, had changed their major when
they became Ph.D. candidates and were
still specialists in their Ph.D.
field at the time of the study. Only
2 percent of the scientists had a
field of highest competence and a
bachelor's degree in the same science
but a Ph.D. degree in a different
field.
247228 0
-
53 -2
Transfers Between Functions♦—
Implicit in a doctor's degree is a
mastery of techniques and a body.of
knowledge, which acts as a barrier to
movement between scientific fields,
but which facilitates shifts among
different kinds cf work within a par
ticular area of specialization. The
two principal activities of the
scientists in the sample were teach
ing and research: At the time of the
survey, 38 percent were college
teachers, 30 percent were doing re
search, and 21 percent were in tech
nical administration, which normally
include both research end supervisory
duties. Many of the college teachers
(more than AO percent of those for
whom three or four jobs were recorded)
had at sometime worked as research
scientists. The obverse is also true;
more than a third of the research
scientists (with three or four jobs
within the scope of the study) and
42 percent of the comparable group of
technical administrators had at some
time held regular college teaching
posts.
For 30 percent of the scientists
in the sample, a third kind of work
was also recorded. In many cases this
experience was gained an the man's
first professional job. A third ofalL
the scientists began their careers as
assistant college teachers cr labora
tory assistants. Another 16 percent
had started out either in inspection
testing cr similar routine profession
al work or as high school teachers.
Transfers Between Types of Em
ployers .— As would be inferred from
the transfers between teaching and
research, most of the scientists had
worked for at least two different
types of employers. Three-fifths of
all the scientists and three-fourths
-
of the group for whom four employers
were recorded had experience in at
least two different types of employ
ment.
An analysis of the transfers be
tween types of employers from the
first to the second recorded job and
from the third to the fourth indicates
that educators were less likely to
change their type of employer de
spite the relatively low salaries
paid by colleges and universities.
About half the Government employees
stayed in the Government, less than
two-thirds of the private-industry
scientists continued in private in
dustry, but nearly three-fourths of
the educators remained cn the campus.
Moreover, the largest proportions of
those who left either Government or
private industry entered educational
institutions.
The scientists' de-r
cisions to remain in or enter uni
versity employment was probably influ
enced as much by the kind of alterna
tives available to them as by a
preference for this type of employ
ment. A lower proportion of the chem
ists (who have wide opportunities in
industry) than of either biologists
or physicists, remained on the campus
in these shifts.
Geographic Mobility.— Scientists
begin their geographic movements
while they are still students. More
than 60 percent of the approximately
12,000 Ph.D. biologists, chemists,
and physicists included in the, Bio
graphical Directory iof American Men
of Science obtained their bachelor's
and doctor's degrees in different
States: More than half obtained their
baccalaureates and doctorates in en
tirely different sections of the
country.
u The scientists continued to
migrate after they had completed
their education. More than AO percent
of all the scientists in the sample
on which this study is based and close
to two-thirds of those with four jobs
studied had worked in at least three
different States.
A comparison of
these figures with those shown for
the geographic movements of other
occupations
indicates that Ph.D.
scientists are one of the most mobile
segments of the population.
As would be expected in view of
the high geographic mobility of the
scientists, only a fourth were cur
rently employed in the States where
they had received their bachelor's
degrees, and only one out of three
was employed either in the 8tate of
his baccalaureate or that of his dootorate.
Regional Gains and Losses Between
Education and Current Employment.—
Certain regions of the country, nota
bly the North Central and Middle
Atlantic States granted many more
doctorates than baccalaureates to the
scientists, according to data for all
the chemists, biologists, and physi
cists with Ph.D. degrees.
On the
other hand, many more baccalaureates
than doctorates were awarded in the
South.
This tendency for graduates
of southern colleges to go to north
ern schools for their graduate work
has been a cause of concern in the
South.
This study shows, however,
that Ph.D. scientists do not neces
sarily work in the section of the
country in which they receive their
doctor's degrees.
The number
of
scientists employed in the North
Central States, at" the time of the
survey, was not only less than the
-
number who had received doctor's de
grees from North Central universi
ties, but also less than the smaller
number who had earned baccalaureates
in the region. The opposite was true
for the South. More of these Ph.D.
scientists were working in this re
gion in 1948 than had received bacca
laureates there.
Conclusions.— In summary, the
study indicates that, despite the
employment stability of Ph.D. scien
tists, they must be characterized as
a relatively mobile group in certain
respects. By the time they reach
middle age, a large proportion have
had experience in at least three of
the functions normally performed by
scientists. Most of them— whether
educators, government employees, or
employees in private industry— have
worked for at least one other type
of employer. The majority have held
positions in two or more States.
Moreover, more than half have trans
ferred at some time from one scien
tific specialty to another.
These findings have certain
implications for personnel planning
in the sciences.
1. Geographic location need
not be a limiting factor in planning
$ -
research and development programs,
at le a st with reference to the re
cruitment of s c ie n tis ts , particular
ly Ph.D .'s. S cien tists are usually
w illin g to move to a new lo c a lity
in order to advance th eir economic
or professional in ter e sts.
2. The personnel supply in a
particular branch of chemistry or
biology may be su b stan tially aug
mented through transfers from other
branches of these respective d is c i
p lin es. However, no sizable num
ber of persons can be expected to
sh ift from one major d iscip lin e to
another.
3.
Since most Ph.D. scientist
have had widely varied experience in
the activities normally carried out
by scientists,— teaching, research,
technical administration, etc.— the
number engaged in a particular type
of activity at any specific time is
no indication of the number qualified
to carry on this kind of work. Above
all, many more Ph.D.’s have had ex
perience in research than are actual
ly employed in this kind of work at
any given time.
SCOPE AND METHOD
H ie S c ie n tis ts S t u d ie d
This study is a byproduct of a
194.8 mail questionnaire survey which
had two maj or purposes; the establish
ment of a roster of key scientists,
for use by the Department of Defense,
the National Research Council, and
other agencies concerned with the
supply of scientific personnel! and
the provision of information for the
194.9 edition of the Biographical
Directory of American Men of Science.
A report on the educational back
ground, recent employment, and earn
ings of the scientists in the Direc
tory has already been published. 2/
The present study is based on an
analysis of the work histories reIported in the questionnaire of a
sample group of men chemists, physi
cists, and biologists with Ph.D.'s.
The sample was restricted to
scientists in three fields because
the inclusion of a larger number of
disciplines would have required an
analysis beyond the scope of this
pilot study.
Women were excluded
because a separate study of their job
movements would have been necessary*
in view or the special factors arrecoing their employment, and there were
too few women in the group from whom
the sample was drawn to permit such
analysis. Scientists without Ph.D.'s
were omitted because the Directory
included only a small group of such
scientists, who were presumably equal
to Ph.D.'s in scientific attainment
and therefore in no way representa
tive of all the country's scientists
with bachelor's and master's degrees.
On the other hand, the Ph.D.'s in
the Directory comprised a large pro
portion (about two-thirds) of the
Nation's scientists at this level of
training.
It is believed that, by
taking a sample of this group, a good
cross-section of all male Doctors of
Philosophy in the studied sciences
has been obtained. 3/
Altogether, the study includes
1,122 men who had earned the Fh.D. de
gree by mid-1948, who were employed at
the time they returned their question
naires, and who reported their field
of highest competence as some branch
of physics, biology, or chemistry.
17
Employment. Education, and
Earnings of American Men of Science.
Bulletin No. 1027, 0. S. Department
of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics,
1951.
Prepared in cooperation with
the 0. S. Department of Defense,
Washington, D. C., 1951* A reproduc
tion of the questionnaire, on which
the present study is based, is at
tached to the bacx cover of that re-1
port.
- 6-
3/ See Bulletin No. 1027, U.S.
Department of Labor, op.cit., p. 4. ,
for a discussion of the coverage
of the Biographical Directory of
American Men of Science.
- 7The chemists were by far the largest
group in the sample, 55 percent; the
biologists were the next largest
group, 30 percent.
Although the
physicists constituted only 15 per
cent of the sample, they represented
about the same proportion (approxi
mately 5 percent) of the Nation's
professionally active Ph.D.'s
in
their field as did the sample groups
of chemists and biologists. 4/
The criterion used in deciding
whether a scientist should be classi
fied in , one of the three fields
covered by this report was his own
opinion as to his field of highest
competence. In filling out tiequestion
naire, each respondent was asked to
check, from a list of about 600 fields
of specialization, the one in which
he considered himself most competent.
All the men included in this study
checked
a branch
of chemistry,
physics, or biology. This means that
some scientists with Ph.D. degrees
in these fields were excluded because
they no longer considered themselves
Table 1.— Fields of current employment of the
scientists in the study, 1948
Field of current
employment
Number
Percent
Total reporting ..........
1/ 1 ,0 6 6
100.0
Chemistry.... ..... ......
Physics ..................
Biology
Medicine and related
fields ................
Engineering *.............
Earth sciences ...........
Agriculture .......... ••••
Mathematics ...............
Metallurgy ...............
Electronics ..............
General science •••••••••••
O t h e r .... ........... .
549
142
293
51.5
13.3
27.5
7
16
3
10
5
2
3
15
21
.7
1.5
.3
•9
.5
.2
.3
1.4
1.9
1/ Excludes 56 scientists for whom only
1 job was recorded. This was coded as the first
rather than the current job in order to facili
tate the entire analysis.
primarily biologists, physicists, or
chemists. It means also that 6 percent
of the men in the sample were employed
in fields other than biology, phy
sics, or chemistry in mid-1948, when
they filled out their questionnaires,
although they still regarded one of
these sciences as their first spe
cialty (table 1).
In selecting the questionnaires
for inclusion in the present study,
it was not possible to utilize random
sampling techniques.
However, the
scientists in the sample were compared
with all the Ph.D.'s in these fields
as described in Bulletin No. 1027
with respect to several key charac
teristics— median age aid distribution
by type of employer and by region of
employment. This comparison indicates
that, with regard to these charac
teristics at least, the men in the
sample were representative of all
Ph.D.'s in the given sciences.
The median age of the scientists
in the sample was AO years.
The
chemists and ohysicists had median
ages of 39 and 4-1 years respective
ly, identical with the medians for
all Ph.D. chemists and physicists in
the Directory. J7 The biologists in
the sample had a median age of 42
years, only slightly lower than that
for all Ph.D. biologists (43 years).
4/ The Bureau of Labor Statis
tics estimated the number of pro
fessionally active Ph.D.'s in each of
these fields by applying appropriate
death and retirement rates to figures
of the number of doctorates granted
in each of these subjects between
1912 and 1948.
5/ Bulletin No. 1027, U.S. De
partment of Labor, op. cit., p. 11.
It should be noted that, in the age
tabulations in that study, physicists
were grouped with electronics scien
tists, some of whom were probably
engineers.
-8The sample also followed closely
the larger group from which it was
drawn in the proportion of scientists
working in each type of employment
(table 2). In both the larger and
smaller groups, about half the chem
ists were currently employed in pri
vate industry and about a third were
working on the campus. 6/
On the
6/ Ibid., p. 44*
There are
some differences between that study
and the present one in the method
of classifying employment; hence,
exact comparisons between the two
studies concerning the proportion
of Ph.D. scientists employed by each
type of employer are not possible.
other hand, university employment
predominated among the physicists
and biologists. In biology, threefifths of the Ph.D.'s both in
the sample and the Directory were
employed in educational institu
tions, and about a tenth were in
private industry. An even higher
proportion of the physicists in
the sample,
more than two—thirds,
were employed
in
education.
Among all Ph.D. physicists in the
Directory, the proportion working
for educational institutions may
have been slightly lower than
this, but it was above 60 per
cent.
Table 2.— Types of employers for whom scientists were working,
by field of highest competence, 1948
Type of employer
field of highest competence
All
scientists Chemistry | physics Biology
Percent
Educational institution ...
Government.......... .
Private indnstty .........
Independent consultant ....
Self-employed ............
Nonprofit foundation .....
T o t a l ........... .
Total number reporting ....
42
46.8
13.7
35.5
.7
.5
2.8
33.1
9.6
53.5
.5
.7
2.6
67.5
8.0
20.2
1.8
—
2.5
60.5
23.7
11.9
.3
.3
3.3
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
1/ 1,066
574
163
329
1/ Excludes
chemists, 3 physicists, and 11 biologists for
whom only 1 job was recorded. This was coded as the first rather than
the current job in order to facilitate the entire analysis.
Table 3.— Region of current employment of eoientiete in the study and of all Ph.D. ohemists,
biologists, and physicists, 19-48 3/
Scientists
in this
study
Number Percent
Region of currant employment
New England............... .................. ......
Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont.......... ..............
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut **»««•«»•........ •«.
Middle Atlantic ....................... ............
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania ........... .
Maryland, Delaware, District of Columbia »ee**«*e*«*... .
Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee ...
South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi........ .
Florida... .......... ........•••••.........
Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas .................. .
North Central ......................................
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan................... .
Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin ........... ..... .......... .
Mountain and Plains.......... ....... .............. .
Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri........ ..................
North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming,
Colorado, Utah, Nevada ............ ..............
Arizona, New Mexico ............... ......... ..... ....
Pacific .............................................. .
Washington, Oregon
•.......... ........... .
California .................. .......... ..... .
••••♦«
Territories and foreign countries ............... ...a.......
All Ph.D. chemists,
biologists, and
physicists 1/
Percent
Number
2/ 1,066
100.0
13,197
100.0
72
9
63
425
301
124.
144
6.8
.9
5.9
39.8
28.2
11.6
13.5
5.6
2.9
.9
4.1
22.3
17.5
947
139
808
5,063
3,784
1,279
1,854
781
328
153
592
3,083
2,405
678
816
402
7.2
1.1
6.1
38.4
28.7
9.7
14.0
5.9
2.5
1.1
4.5
23.4
18.2
5.2
6.2
3.1
317
97
1,350
2.4
10*2
300
2.2
78
2.4
1.4
9.4
2.1
7.3
1,050
8.0
12
1.1
84
60
31
9
44
238
187
51
75
35
25
15
100
22
4.8
7.1
3.3
.7
1/ The data for all Ph.D. chemists, biologists, and physicists is based on Bulletin No. 1027, 0. S. De
partment of Labor.
2/ Excludes 56 scientists for whom only 1 job was reported.
.6
- 10 The geographic distribution of
the scientists in this study likewise
corresponded closely with that cf all
Ph.D.'s in the same fields (table 3)»
Fifty-seven percent of both the sample
group and the scientists from whom
this group was selected ware employed
in the Middle Atlantic and East North
Central States at the time of the
survey (table 3). The southern states
ranked third as a region of employ
ment, with 14. percent of both men in
the sample and all Ph.D. chemists,
physicists, and biologists.
cessarily indicate the entire extent
of his mobility.
People are also
shifted from one research problem to
another, are
promoted, or
are
transferred to a different plant or
department. In the present study, a
job was defined as a continuous
period of employment with one em
ployer, in one field of specializa
tion, with one type of activity, and
in one State.
This definition was
dictated by the purpose of
the
study— to analyze scientists' mobility
not only between specialties
and
types of employers, but also between
functions and geographic areas.
M e a s u r e m e n t o f M o b i li t y
Much of the available informa
tion on the occupational mobility of
scientific
personnel comes
from
studies which cover only a fraction
of the respondents' work experience,
although it is widely recognized that
the ideal study would trace entire
work histories. The difficulty of gath
ering reliable information cover
ing all of an individual's work ex
perience is one reason the workhistory approach has been neglected.
An equally serious obstacle is the
tabulation and presentation of such
data. The complexity and difficulty
of tabulations on occupational mo
bility increase in geometric ratio
with the number of jobs which are
considered per individual.
Another difficult problem en
countered in every study of occu
pational mobility is the definition
of "job" and "job change." It goes
without saying that when a person
changes employers he also changes
jobs. But the number of employers
for whom a man works does not' neo-
The present study attempted to
approximate the work histories of
these scientists and at the same time
keep the work of tabulation within
the bounds of feasibility by limiting
the analysis to a maximum of four
jobs per scientists— the first pro
fessional job after completion of
college, the position held at the
time of study, and the two inter
mediate jobs of longest duration.
Furthermore, rally full-time
jobs
which had lasted at least 3 months
were studied. 7/
2/
!Part-time work such as con
sulting or night-school teaching
(which sup lamented full-time jobs),
summer and other jobs of less than 3
months'duration, and research fellow
ships were excluded from the analvsi s.
With these exceptions, four employers
were recorded for every scientist who
had worked for four or more employers.
Hence, in some cases only part of
the employment (the assignment of
longest duration) with one or more
of these employers was analyzed.
- 11 Not all the scientists in the sam
ple had held four jobs as defined by
the study. Fewer than four jobs were
recorded,for 45 percent of the men; on
ly one or two jobs for 22 percent. The
average number of jobs recorded was 3.2
per scientist (table 4)«
Because the study was not limited
to a specific time period and in
cluded men of all ages, the number
of jobs recorded for a scientist was
inevitably influenced by his age and
years of experience. The men for whom
four jobs were recorded were the old
est group in the study, with a median
age of 42 years, compared with a
median age of 40 years for those who
had held three jobs, and 37 years for
those for idiom one or two jobs were
recorded. Even among the men past 50,
however, there were some (17 percent)
who had never changed their special
ization, locale, or even the kind of
activity they performed (table 5).
Moreover, even among the youngest men
in the study, those under 30, more
than a third had held four jobs, as
defined by the study. Thus, the num
ber of jobs recorded for a scientist
was in itself an indication of his
employment mobility.
Table A*— Distribution of scientists according
to number of jobs and number of employers
included in the study
Percent of scientists
Number
of
jobs
Number of employers
Total
One
Two
Three
Four
1 job .... 100.0
100.00
—
—
—
2 jobs ... 100.0
18.78
81.22
—
—
3 jobs ... 100.0
3-92
26.27
69.81
—
1.63
8.79
27.8$
U
jobs ... 100.00
247228 0
-
53-3
61.73
It follows from the definition
of "job" used in this study that two
or more jobs were recorded for some
scientists who had worked for only
one employer. For example, a chemist
who h^d been the group leader in
charge of developing a new product
in the central laboratory of a large
company was put in charge of the
pilot plant set up in another city
for the further development of the
product, and later became manager of
the plant in still another city where
the product was put into mass produc
tion. For the purpose of this study,
that chemist had held three jobs as
he worked in three different locali
ties, although he continued to work
for the same employer.
There was &
considerable number of such oases.
Thirty percent of the scientists who
had held three jobs had worked for
only one or two employers, and 3&percent of those for whom four jobs were
recorded had worked for fewer than
four employers (table 4)• The average
number of employers for whom the men
had worked on the jobs included in
the study was 2.9* Since, this figure
is, can]y moderately lower than the aver
age of 3.2 jobs per scientist, it is
obvious that most of the mobility
considered in this study involved a
change of employers, rather than a
shift merely in work assignment or
work location.
In order to evaluate the study’s
coverage of the scientists' entire
work experience, a comparison was
made of the number of employers for
whom the scientists had worked on the
jobs included in the study with the
total number for whom they had ever
worked on a full-time basis.
This
comparison indicated that the scien
tists in this study, like most pro
fessional people, had a high degree
of employment stability, and also
- 12 Table 5*—Age of sc ie n tists, by number of jobs
included in the study
Age group
A ll ages ..........................
Under 30
30 - 34
35 - 39
4 0 -4 4
45 - 49
50 - 54
55 - 59
60 - 64
65 - 69
70 years
Under 30
30 - 34
35 - 39
40 - 44
45 - 49
50 - 54
55 - 59
60 - 64
65 - 69
70 years
years .............
years .............
years .............
y e a r s .............
years .............
years .............
years .............
years .............
years .............
and over . . . .
years .............
years . . . . . . .
y e a r s ........... ..
years .............
y e a r s .............
years .............
years . . . . . . .
years .............
years . . . . . . .
and over . . . .
Total . ............. ..
Median age ......................
A ll sc ie n tists
1 / 1,114
86
244
223
197
130
97
81
30
22
4
7.7
21.9
20.0
17.7
11.7
8.7
7.3
2.7
2.0
.3
S cien tists having sp ecified
number of jobs
Three Four
One Two
job jobs jobs jobs
Number
54 196
12
12
11
5
5
4
3
1
—
1
20
63
45
24
17
13
11
2
—
1
Percent
22.2 10.2
22.2 32.1
20.3 23.0
9.3 12.3
8.7
9.3
6.6
7.4
5.6
5.5
1.9 1 .0
—
—
1.9
.5
610
23
48
49
26
23
12
8
5
—
31
109
119
119
82
57
55
19
17
2
9.1
23.6
18.9
19*3
10.2
9*1
4.7
3*1
2.0
——*
5.1
17.9
19*5
19*5
13.4
9*4
9.0
3.1
2.8
.3
60
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
40
37
37
40
42
1 / Excludes 8 sc ie n tists who did not -report age
254
- 13 th a t the study covered a larg e pro
portion of the s c ie n tis ts ' fu ll-tim e
employment. The s c ie n tis ts , whose
median age was 40 years, had worked
fo r an average of 3.5 employers from
the time o f th e ir f i r s t job u n til
the time of the survey. 8 / Moreover,
th ree-fo u rth s of the men had worked
fo r four or fewer employers. I t
follow s th a t th is study, though
lim ited to four jobs per s c ie n tis t,
covered most (s lig h tly more than 80
percent) of the employers fo r idiom
the s c ie n tis ts had ever worked on a
fu ll-tim e b asis (ta b le 6 ). fu rth e r,
an examination of the questionnaires
indicated th a t much of the excluded
employment was in short-term work,
p a rtic u la rly summer school teaching.
8 / The re la tiv e employment s ta b ility o f professio nal personnel is
also shown in a study of occupational m obility in six c itie s , based on a
sample of the e n tire working population in these areas. The study in d i
cated th a t on the average the people in a l l the technical and professio nal
occupations combined had worked fo r 1.9 employers in the 10-year period
1940-49* The study also showed th a t there was a much higher degree of
employer m obility a t the lower s k ill le v e ls and th a t fo r the most mobile
group in the population, the la b o re rs, the average number o f employers in
the decade was 2.8 per in d iv id u al. See M obility of Workers in Six C ities.
an unpublished rep o rt of the In d u s tria l Research Department, Wharton
School of Finance and Commerce, U niversity of Pennsylvania*
Table 6.— Total number of employers for whom scientists had Worked and proportion of
these employers covered by the study
Scientists in the study
Total number
of employers
Total reporting..... .
1
2
3
4
employer...........
employers ..........
employers •..........
employers..... .....
5 employers...... ♦...
6 employers ...........
employers •.•........
employers ...........
employers ..........
employers ...........
7
8
9
10
1
Employers covered by study
Percent of all em
ployers for whom
scientists had worked
Number
Percent
Number
1,122
100.0
3,224
1/ 81.0
114
246
262
212
133
73
40
25
14
3
9.9
22.0
23-4
18.9
11.9
6.5
3.6
2.2
1.3
•3
114
488
758
769
490
284
155
98
56
12
100.0
99.2
96.4
90.7
73.7
64.8
55.4
49.0
44*4
40.0
/
Employment in summer jobs, other jobs of less than 3 months' duration, and
research fellowships were excluded from the analysis. Therefore, some of the employers
for idiom the scientists had worked on a full-time basis were not covered by the study,
even in the case of scientists who reported no more than 4 employers.
- u -
TRANSFERS BETWEEN FIELDS OF SPECIALIZATION
Are highly trained sc ie n tists
so specialized that they function
only in a lim ited sc ie n tific fie ld ,
or are they su ffic ien tly fle x ib le
to transfer e a sily from one fie ld of
sp ecialization to another in response
to changing economic and so cia l re
quirements? This i s th e,principal
question to which a study of the
occupational m obility of sc ie n tists
must address it s e lf .
The answer to th is question
given by any study is inevitably
greatly influenced by the way in
which sc ie n tific fie ld s are defined
and c la ss ifie d . The complex and in
terrelated world of science can be
subdivided into almost any number of
d ifferen t sp e c ia ltie s. These spe
c ia ltie s may also be grouped into a
few broad d isc ip lin es. Obviously, a
study which considered only sh ifts
between broad d iscip lin es would tend
to show fewer occupational transfers
than one which analyzed movements
between narrowly defined sc ie n tific
fie ld s .
The present report analyzes
sc ie n tists' movements from one broad
fie ld of science to another and also
between the major subdivisions of
these d iscip lin es. For convenience,
biology, chemistry, physics, engi
neering, and other broad sc ie n tific
fie ld s are referred to in th is re
port as ''general field s" of sp ecia li
zation, and subdivisions of the
general fie ld s are designated "speci
f ic field s" of sp ecialization . 9 /
The sp ecific f ie ld s , into which chem
istr y was divided, are general chem
is tr y , organic chemistry, inorganic
chemistry, an alytical chemistry,
physical chemistry, and biochemistry.
Biology-was divided into the tradi
tion al fie ld s —general biology, bot
any, bacteriology, entomology, and
zoology. For technical reasons i t
was not possible to subdivide phys
ic s . A complete l i s t of the general
and sp ecific fie ld s considered in
th is report is given in the appendix
(P* 5 4 ). 10/
9 / The more common term "d iscip lin e" is used as a synonym fo r "general
fie ld of sp ec ia liz a tio n " throughout the re p o rt. In the same way, the term
"sp ecialty " is used interchangeably w ith "sp ecific f ie ld of sp e c ia liz a tio n ."
lo / I t w ill be noted in th is l i s t that some o f the sp ecific fie ld s are
broader than others. For example, both geology and pharmacy are c la ssifie d
as sp ecific fie ld s whereas mathematics is considered a general fie ld o f spe
c ia liza tio n . The c la ssific a tio n of sp e cia ltie s used in th is study was, per
force, the one developed for the origin al questionnaire, which was not con
structed for the purpose of studying occupational m obility. However, the
problem of coding fie ld s of sp ecialization in such a way as to equate areas
of equal scope on the aame d ig ita l le v e l has never been completely solved,
and is probably not susceptible of complete solu tion .
- 15 Most Ph.D. sc ie n tists work in
sp ecia lties s t i l l narrower than the
sp ecific fie ld s used in th is report.
For example, more chemists work as
sp e cia lists in p la stics and other
synthetics than in organic chemistry
as a whole. Many more zoologists
work in invertebrate zoology than in
general zoology. Precise informa
tion as to a s c ie n tis t’s narrow spe
c ia lty cannot be obtained for each
job he has held by means of a ques
tionnaire survey. Hence, the present
study does not attempt to study
sh ifts between detailed areas of
sp ecialization . Such information was
obtained,however, by means of in ter
views, for about 4-00 Ph.D. chem ists,
p h y sicists, and b io lo g ists. An anal
y sis of these interviews is now in
preparation.
The N u m b e r o f F ie ld s in W h ic h
the S c ie n t is t s H a d W o r k e d
The extent to which Ph.D. s c i
e n tists sh ift between sc ie n tific
d iscip lin es is shown in table 7,
which gives the number of general
fie ld s of sp ecialization in which
the 1,122 reporting sc ie n tists had
worked in the course of the jobs in
cluded in the study. One out of four
had at sometime worked in a d ifferen t
general fie ld from that in which he
was currently employed. The propor
tion was highest in physics and lowest
in chemistry. More than a third of
the men working in physics (37 per
cent) had experience in another s c i
ence, compared with 22 percent of
those employed in biology and only
16 percent of those in chemistry.
These figures suggest that the rapid
ly expanding fie ld of physics has
drawn on other sciences for it s per
sonnel to a greater degree than has
either chemistry or biology. The
most mobile group in the study, how
ever, were not the men currently em
ployed in physics but the sc ie n tists
(8 percent of the to ta l) working in
fie ld s other than chem istry,biology,
or physics at the time of the survey.
Four out of every fiv e of them had
worked in more than one general fie ld .
Very few men, even in th is small
group,had worked in a3 many as three
d ifferen t general fie ld s .
In some instances, experience
in a second general field reflected
a broadening of interest rather than
a change of specialty.11/The promo
tion of a professor of biology to
the chairmanship of a science divi
sion was recorded as a shift from
biology into general science, even
though the particular scientist con
tinued to give some courses in biol
ogy. In some other cases, the re
corded transfer represented a scien
tist's
shift
from
research
into
11/ A sc ie n tist was considered to be doing sc ie n tific work even when
he was engaged in an adm inistrative capacity, provided that he supervised
a group of sc ie n tists or administered a research program. I f , however, h is
duties involved the business administration o f an organization or the
management of a production u n it, he was c la ssifie d as working in a nonscient i f i c fie ld . As shown in table 9 few of these sc ie n tists had any experience
in n on scien tific fie ld s .
- 16 Table 7 .—Humber of general fie ld s of sp ec ia liz a tio n in which s c ie n tis ts
were employed on jobs included in the study
Percent of sc ie n tists
Total
Field of current
number of
Employed in sp ecified
employment and
sc ie n tists Total number
of general fie ld s
number of jobs
reporting
One
Two
Three
1,122
75.0
A ll fie ld s ..................
100.0
2A.1
0.9
—
—
56
1 job ......................
100.0 100.0
—
2 j o b s ........... ..
197
100.0
90.5
9.5
.8
81.7
100.0
3 jobs ....................
255
17.5
33.6
A jobs ....................
100.0
65.1
1.3
61A
.7
Chemistry ....................
100.0
15.2
8A.1
589
—
—
1 j o b ......................
100.0 100.0
A2
—
95.8
118
2 jobs ....................
100.0
A.2
13.6
85.0
3 Jobs ....................
150
100.0
1.4
22.8
.7
A jobs ....................
100.0
76.5
279
35.6
Physics ......................
1A7
100.0
63.0
1.4
—
—
1 j o b ......................
3
G/>
Q/>
—.
21
2 jobs ....................
85.7
100.0
1A.3
—
28
3 jobs ....................
100.0
63.0
37.0
2.1
56.8
A jobs ....................
100.0
A
l.l
95
20.6
Biology ........................
306
100.0
1.0
78.A
—
——
1 job ......................
11
100.0 100.0
—
2 jobs ....................
A7
100.0
91-5
8.5
—
85.7
71
3 jobs ....................
100.0
1A-3
70.6
1.7
27.7
177
A jobs ....................
100.0
Other ............................
1.2
80
100.0
16.3
82.5
—
—
—
—
——
1 j ob . . . . . . . . . . .
-----■
2 jobs ....................
11
63*6
100.0
36.A
—
6
3 jobs ....................
0 /)
0 /)
G/>
11.1
A jobs ....................
1.6
100.0
63
87.3
1 / Number too sm all to w arrent calcu latin g percentages. Because,
however, the study used a small sample, percentages were calculated fo r
sm all to ta ls in th is and the follow ing ta b le s, provided these fig u res
were more than 10. This was done to give the reader some idea of the
d istrib u tio n in each case, even though the percentages as such have no
sig n ifica n c e .
- 17 managerial work, as a plant manager
for instance, rather than active
participation in a d ifferen t scien
t if ic fie ld . For most of the scien
t is t s , however, work in a second
science involved either teaching or
research experience in th is second
fie ld .
Table 8 shows the number of spe
c ific fie ld s in which the sc ie n tists
had worked, the second or third fie ld
lying either within the general fie ld
of his current employment or in a
d ifferen t d iscip lin e. Almost 60 per
cent of the chemists and b io lo g ists
combined had worked in two or more
sp ecific fie ld s of sp ecialization ,
and 15 percent in three or more
fie ld s .
By subtracting the figures in
table 7 from the corresponding figures
in table 8, a comparison can be made
of the relative frequency of in traand in terd iscip lin e s h ifts . As would
be expected, a larger number of s c i
en tists had worked at sometime in
d ifferen t branches of the general
fie ld s in which they were currently
employed than had crossed oyer into
d ifferen t d iscip lin es. Only 16 per
cent of the chemists had worked out
side chemistry, but 42 percent had
experience in two or more branches
of that science. A smaller propor
tion of the b io lo g ists than of the
chemists had made in trad iscip lin e
s h ifts, probably because the major
branches of biology are le s s closely
related to each other than is the
case in chemistry. N evertheless, 33
percent of the men working in some
branch o f biology at the time of the
survey had experience in another
branch of that fie ld , compared with
22 percent who had been employed
outside biology.
Experience outside the fie ld of
a man’s current employment is le s s
sign ifican t as an indication of po
ten tia l m obility i f such experience
is lim ited to h is f ir s t professional
job than i f i t comes a t a la ter stage
in his career. F irst jobs are often
so lim ited in scope that the experi
ence gained in them is by no means
an indication of competence in the
sp ecialty involved. I t is important
to n ote, therefore, that for the
majority of the sc ie n tists who had
experience in a second fie ld of
sp ecialization , th is experience was
not confined to the f ir s t profes
sional job. Two-thirds of the men
who had worked in a second general
fie ld had gained part or a ll of that
experience in an intermediate job.
Experience in a second d iscip lin e
was confined to the f ir s t job for
only a third of a ll the sc ie n tists
with such experience. The finding
with respect to experience outside
the sp ecific fie ld of current employ
ment is much the same. About 60 per
cent of the sc ie n tists who had worked
outside the sp ecialty in which they
were employed a t the time of the
survey had gained part or a ll of that
experience a fter completing their
f ir s t professional job.
The fact that experience in a
d iscip lin e ( outside the current and
usual fie ld of employment was by no
means confined to f ir s t job adjust
ments is also indicated by a compari
son of the number of fie ld s in which
the sc ie n tists had worked with the
number of jobs recorded for them.
Only 10 percent of the sc ie n tists
for whom two jobs were recorded had
experience in more than one general
fie ld . This proportion increased to
18 percent for the men with three
studied jobs, who were on the average
-18 -
Table 8 .—Number of sp ecific fie ld s of sp ecialization in which sc ie n tists
were employed on jobs included in the study
Total
Percent of sc ie n tists
Field of current
number
of
Employed iLn sp ecified
employment and
sc
ie
n
tists
number
of siaecific fie ld s
Total
number of jobs
reporting
One
Two Three Four
All fie ld s ..................
1 job ......................
2 jobs ....................
3 jobs ....................
4 jobs ....................
Chemistry ....................
1 j o b ......................
2 jobs ....................
3 jobs ....................
4 jobs ....................
Physics ........................
1 j o b ......................
2 jobs ....................
3 jobs ....................
4 jobs ....................
Biology ........................
1 j o b ................
2 jobs ......................
3 jobs ......................
A jobs ....................
Other ............................
1 job . . . . . . . . . . .
2 j o b s ....................
3 jobs ....................
A j o b s ................
1,122
56
197
255
6H
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
589
42
118
150
279
H7
3
21
28
95
306
11
47
71
177
80
—
11
6
63
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
G/>
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
—
100.0
G/>
100.0
A3.5
100.0
72.9
44.2
28.6
4 2 .2
100.0
75.8
39.9
20.3
63.0
0 /)
85.7
63.0
56.8
45.6
100.0
70.2
48.6
34.5
10.0
—
27.3
(1/)
6.3
41.7
—
27.1
45.8
48.5
10.0
20.5
2 .4
43.2
—
24.2
50.0
54.4
28.8
13.4
—
—
10.1
22.8
8.2
1.2
—
—
2e5
—
—
14.3
25.9
33.7
40.6
—
29.8
41.4
45.8
57.5
—
72.7
0 /)
52.4
1 / Number too small to warrant calculating percentages.
13.5
1.3
—
—
—
—
—
11.1
9.5
12.5
—
—
10.0
17.5
27.5
—
—
—
35.0
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
1.3
—
—
—
2.2
5.0
——
—
—
6-3
- 19 3 years older than the former and to
35 percent fo r the o ld est group in
the sample, the men who had held a t
le a s t four jobs (tab le 7 ).
This
tendency fo r an increasing number of
s c ie n tis ts to gain experience in a
second d isc ip lin e with a longer stay
in the lab o r market applied equally
to the b io lo g ists, chem ists,, and
p h y sic ists. The same tendency is
also shown in the data on tra n sfe rs
between sp ecific fie ld s (tab le 8 ).
P a t te r n s o f T r a n s f e r B e t w e e n
S p e c ia ltie s
Although a considerable propor
tion of the sc ie n tists in th is study
had worked at sometime outside th eir
fie ld of current employment, their
experience in other sp ecia lties
usually represented only a small part
of their employment h isto r ie s. This
is shown by an analysis of the fie ld s
in which 1,122 sc ie n tists had worked
on 3,613 jobs covered by the study.
A ll but 12 percent of these jobs were
in the same general fie ld s as the
s c ie n tis ts ’ current jobs (table 9)•
The proportion of jobs outside the
general fie ld of current employment
was higher (15 percent) for the men
working in physics them for those in
chemistry or biology (7 and 8 percent
respectively) confirming the points
made in the previous section that
there is a greater tendency for s c i
e n tists to sh ift in to physics than
into eith er chemistry or biology.
Work outside the sc ie n tists'
sp ecific fie ld of current employment
talked larger in their work h isto ries
than employment in other broad s c i
e n tific d iscip lin es* About a third
of a ll the jobs recorded for the men
working in chemistry and a fourth of
those held by the b io lo g ists were in
sp ecific fie ld s other than the ones
in which these sc ie n tists were em
ployed at the time of the study
(table A, p-55)• 12/ These previous
positions were widely scattered among
a variety of sp ecific sp e c ia ltie s,
and only a small percent were in
any one fie ld . In the case of the
men currently working as organic
chemists, for example, 74 percent of
a ll the recorded jobs were in organic
chemistry, 17 percent in general
chemistry, and not more than 2 per
cent in any other sp ecific fie ld .
Because of the small number of
jobs recorded as outside the scien
t i s t s ’ fie ld of current employment,
the data do not permit d efin ite con
clusions as to patterns of transfer
between sp e c ia ltie s. Insofar as
12/ This percentage varied widely among sp e c ia ltie s—from a low of
only 15 percent for the botanists to a high of 4 1 percent for the general
b io lo g ists. I t should be noted, however, that these differences among
sp e cia ltie s were, in some measure, the resu lt merely of the d iffic u ltie s
encountered in classifyin g jobs by field * I f a s c ie n tis t did not give
enough information in h is questionnaire to determine the branch o f chemis
try or biology in which he had worked on a given p osition , or i f h is work
covered more than one branch of biology or chemistry, th is job was c la s s i
fied under "general chemistry" or "general biology." The e ffe c t of th is
procedure was also to overstate somewhat the number o f jobs recorded as in
a d ifferen t sp ecific fie ld from the one held a t the time of the study*
247228 0 - 53 -4
Table 9*— General fields of specialization in which scientists worked on all jobs included
in study, by field of scientists1 current employment
Held of
scientist's
current employment
Chemistry ......
Physics ••••••.•••
Biology .......
Medicine and
related fields*
Engineering •••••*
Earth sciences •••
Agriculture ••••••
Mathematics ••••••
Metallurgy... .
Electronics ....
General science ••
Nonscientific
fields ......
1/
Total
number
of jobs
studied
1,806
499
1,009
Percent of all jobs studied which were in —
Medicine
NonEngi Earth Agri Math Metal Elec General soienChem- Phya- Biol- and
All
neer
science cul emat lurgy tron science tific
fields istry ics ogy related
ing
ture ics
ics
fields
fields
100.0
100.0
100.0
93.3
4.6
1 .3
0.9
84.8
.3
1.5
1.2
91*7
0.2
—
1.2
1.2
2.2
—
0*4
.1
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
26.9
20.4
—
19 .2
53.9
1.8
—
—
53.7
26
54
11
37
17
6
12
53
100.0
100.0
16.7
18.2 27.3
—
—
—
35.3
0/) —
8.3 33.4
17.0 7.5
83
100.0
49*4
a/)
—
5.6
—
—
40.5
—
—
—
28.3
—
—
—
—
19.3
1.2
Number too small to warrant calculating percentages.
—
—
5 .9
—
54.5
—
~
—
—
8.3
—
—
—■
—
—
—
0.3
—
2.1
0.6
1 .0
.1
0.1
—
—
2.0
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
59.5 —
—
38.8
—
—
—
—
—
——
—
—
—
—
—
—
0/)
—
——
—
1.3
2.4
2.3
0.4
1.4
•9
—
1.8
—
—
—
—
—
—
50.0
—
—
—
—
—
37.8
—
—
—
—
9.4
——
1.2
28.9
—
—
—
- 21 there was any tendency for men cur
rently employed in one fie ld to have
previous experience in some other
sp ecific fie ld , the tendencies noted
were very much what one would have
expected. For example, physical
chemists and an alytical chemists were
more lik e ly to work as chemical en
gineers than were other chemists.
Biochemists,on the other hand, worked
more often in bacteriology and botany
than in any other fie ld s outside
chemistry. Botanists sh ifted into
agricultural sciences to a greater
degree than did other b io lo g ists,
whereas b acteriologists tended to
sh ift into biochemistry and public
health. P h ysicists more often worked
in physical chemistry than in any
other fie ld of chemistry, and in
e le ctrica l engineering rather than
in any other branch of engineering.
For a ll these sc ie n tists job experi
ence in a n on scien tific fie ld was
extremely rare (table A, p. 55)*
Unlike the great majority of
sc ie n tists who had spent most of
their working liv e s in one sp ecific
fie ld of sp ecialization or in a
clo sely related area, the small
group who were not currently employed
in chem istry,physics, or biology had
worked in a wide variety of fie ld s .
Among them are found people with
experience in such apparently un
related fie ld s as aeronautical engi
neering and biology, business admin
istra tio n and zoology, the lib eral
arts and organic chemistry, and man
power problems and biochemistry.
Moreover, le s s than h alf of the jobs
of th is group were in the sp ecific
fie ld in which the sc ie n tists were
working a t the time of the study.
I t has been observed generally
by students of labor m obility that a
considerable part of the sh iftin g
reflected in average m obility rates
arises from the movement of a small
part of the population. 13/ In any
occupational group, there are some
people who do not change jobs at a ll
within a given time span, some who
make several changes, and some who
f a ll between these extremes. I t has
not been possible in the present
study to measure the degree of mo
b ility of the individual sc ie n tists
because the men in the sample were of
d ifferen t ages and had had d ifferen t
amounts o f exposure to the labor
market. The fact that a particular
group of sc ie n tists showed a much
higher degree of occupational mobi
li t y than the entire sample suggests,
however,that, among Ph.D. sc ie n tists
as among the general working popula
tio n , there are wide individual d if
ferences in m obility.
I t should be considered also
that one criterion for including a
sc ie n tist in the study was that he
reported a fie ld of highest com
petence in eith er biology,chem istry,
or physics.
Hence, some of the
Ph.D.’8 included in the Biographical
Directory of American Men of Science.
who held degrees in these subjects
but who, by virtue of either recent
or long experience in another area,
no longer considered themselves pri
marily p h y sicists, b io lo g ists, or
chem ists, were excluded from the sam13/ For a discussion of the
studies on labor m obility, see "Dif
feren tia l Short-Run Labor Mobilities,"
by Herbert L. Heneman, Jr., Minnesota
Manpower M ob ilities.
Minneapolis,
U niversity of Minnesota Press, 1950,
pp. 47-50.
- 22 p ie. For example, one questionnaire
was discarded in the course of the
editing because the respondent, a
Ph.D. in chemistry, had never worked
as a chemist, but pursued a career
as a concert p ia n ist.
Another re
spondent whose questionnaire was ex
cluded also held a Ph.D. in chemistry
and had worked as a research chemist
for several years after receiving his
degree. At the beginning of World
War II he started to work in a c tiv i
tie s which required some knowledge of
science but which were primarily ad
m inistrative. After holding a series
of adm inistrative p osts, he ceased
to think of him self as a s c ie n tist,
and reported h is highest fie ld of com
petence as n o n scien tific. Both exam
ples illu str a te the fa ct that some of
the Ph.D. sc ie n tists who were most mo
b ile , who had departed furthest from
the fie ld s of th eir training and early
experience, were excluded from th is
study. A study of a ll people re
ceiving Ph.D.'s in the sciences would
show a higher degree of occupational
m obility.
F irst and Second Specialties
as Indicators off Experience
So far in th is chapter, m obility
has been studied with the current
job as a point of departure. The
study of m obility may also be, and
frequently i s , analyzed with the
usual or normal occupation as a base
point. This prooedure has the advan
tage of grouping a ll the people who
form part of the labor supply in a
given occupation.
The concept of usual or normal
occupation, however, is widely re
garded as too broad for use in c la ssi
fying sc ie n tific personnel, particu
la rly in the development of rosters.
Instead, the related concept, "fields
of competence," has been devised to
serve a two-fold purposes the group
ing of sc ie n tists and other pro
fession al people under the categories
in which they are best q u a lified , and
the summarization of their experience.
I t is thought also that the lis tin g
of people under th eir fie ld s of high
est competence brings in to one cate
gory those who usually work in the
same occupation.
An intim ate knowledge of a l l the
sciences and more detailed informa
tion on sc ie n tists' backgrounds than
a mail questionnaire survey can yield
are required to determine sp ecia lties
with precision. For th is reason, the
device was developed of having the
sc ie n tist him self choose h is fie ld
of highest, second, and third-highest
competence from a pre-coded l i s t of
sp e c ia ltie s. The obvious lim itation
of th is procedure i s that i t i s sub
jectiv e. The respondent, i t has been
argued, is not always the best judge
of h is own competence. Further, some
registrants w ill check the fie ld s in
which they wish to work rather than
the ones in which they have exper
ience.
Up to now, the arguments for and
against the " field s of competence "
technique fo r roster registration
have remained in the realm of specu
la tion . The present study offered
the fir s t opportunity to discover
whether the fie ld s, designated by the
sc ie n tists as those of th eir highest
and second highest competence, are
satisfactory indicators of th eir ex
perience. This analysis shows the
highest fie ld of competence to be a
useful shorthand for describing exper
ience, at le a st for sc ie n tists with
Ph.D. degrees.
- 23 As noted In the f ir s t chapter,
each sc ie n tist in the study liste d
some area of chemistry, physics, or
biology as h is fie ld of highest com
petence. Seventy percent of both the
chemists and the b io lo g ists were em
ployed in th eir sp ecific fie ld s of
highest competence a t the time of
the survey (table 10). 14./ Host of
the sc ie n tists also had worked in
these fie ld s on a t le a st one previous
job; 63 percent of the b io lo g ists
and chemists combined, had held two
or more jobs in th eir f ir s t sp ecial
ty . About a third of the chemists
and b io lo g ists had worked in th eir
sp e cia ltie s on every job covered by
the study.
Among the sc ie n tists for whom
four jobs were recorded, a large
proportion had worked in their spe
c ia lty on a t le a st three of these
jobs. The proportion was higher in
biology (58 percent) than in chem
istr y (44 percent). Moreover, more
than one-fourth of the b io lo g ists
and 13 percent of the chemists had
always worked in the sp ecific fie ld s
currently regarded as those of th eir
highest competence.
Some of the sc ie n tists in the
study apparently had never worked in
th eir sp ecific fie ld of highest com
petence. In most cases, these were
teachers who had taught either gen
eral courses or courses in more than
one branch of th eir subject. Among
the young men, of course, there were
some who s t i l l considered the work
on th eir Ph.D. th esis more s ig n ifi
cant than th eir subsequent jobs, and
who liste d th eir th esis fie ld as
their fie ld of highest competence
and th eir job fie ld as that of second
highest competence.
The fie ld of second highest com
petence also played a part in the
sc ie n tists' work h isto r ie s, although
a much le ss important one than the
f ir s t sp ecialty. This is seen in
table 11, which shows that more than
th ree-fifth s of a ll the jobs in
cluded in the study were in the s c i
e n tists' sp ecific fie ld s of highest
competence and approximately another
third in th eir fie ld s of second com
petence. Together, the f ir s t and
second sp e cia ltie s encompassed a ll
but 4 percent of the jobs included in
the study.
The proportion of jobs outside
the f ir s t and second sp ecialty com
bined varied considerably among s c i
e n tists in d ifferen t fie ld s. I t was
1 4 / I t w ill be recalled that sp ecific fie ld s of sp ecialization were
not recorded for p h y sicists. A National S cien tific Register survey o f
p h ysicists in 1951 showed a sim ilar proportion (65 percent) currently em
ployed in the branch of physics which they had designated as th eir fie ld
o f highest competence. Less than half (45 percent) the respondents in that
survey had P h.D .'s. These findings are incorporated in Manpower Resources
in Physics, 1951. S cien tific Manpower Series No. 3, Federal Security Agen
cy, O ffice of Education, Washington, D.C., 1952.
- 24 Table 1 0 .—Number of jobs sc ie n tists held in sp ecific fie ld s
of highest competence
Field of highest
competence and
number of jobs
A ll f i e l d s ............. .
1 j o b .....................
2 jobs ...................
3 jobs ...................
4 j o b s ...................
Chemistry
1 job .....................
2 jobs ...................
3 jobs ...................
A jobs ...................
Physics 1 / . . . . . . . .
1 j o b .....................
2 jobs ....................
3 j o b s ......... ..........
A jobs ....................
Biology ......................
1 j o b ......................
2 jobs . . . . . . . . . .
3 jobs ....................
A jobs ....................
Percent of sc ie n tists
Total
Number of jobs in sp ecific
number of
sc ie n tists Total fie ld s of highest competence
reporting
None One Two Three Four
1,122
56
197
255
614
616
A2
122
151
301
166
3
26
29
108
340
11
49
75
205
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
( 2/ )
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
12.1
14.3
18.3
11.0
10.4
14.6
14.3
20.5
13.2
13.0
6.6
(2/)
11.5
3.4
5.6
10.3
9 .1
16.3
9.3
9.3
21.7
85.7
23.4
19.6
16.2
25.1
85.7
22.1
21.9
19.3
10.3
(2/)
19.3
13.8
5.6
21.2
90.9
28.6
17.3
17.1
27.6 25.5
58.3
29.0
19.6
30.1
MW
57.4
29.1
23.7
24.1
69.2
20.7
14.8
24.7
_
55.1
32.0
16.1
—
40.4
29.8
23.7
ww
—
3 5 .8
30.7
27.1
—
62.1
25.0
27.9
—
41.4
31.2
13.1
—
—
24.0
6.5
_
13.3
31.9
WWW
—
—
49.0
15.9
_
—
26.3
l / I t should be noted that physics was not further subdivided and
i s considered a sp ecified f ie ld .
2 / Number too small to warrant calculating percentages.
- 25 Table 11 .— Percent of jobs included in study which were in the scientists'
fields of highest and second highest competence
Percent c>f jobs in
Specific field of second
highest competence
Field of
highest
competence
Total
number of
jobs in
study
Specific
All
field of
fieldf highest
competence
Same general Different
general field
field as
from that of
that of
highest
first highest
competence
competence
5.7
3.5
36.2
5.4
2.5
40.0
48.5
18.5
49.6
39.7
31.6
____
13.0
All fields ......
3,613
100.0
62.4
28.4
Chemistry ......
1,909
100.0
55.9
General ......
Analytical ....
biochemistry ...
Inorganic .....
Organic ........
Physical......
65
136
227
129
830
522
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
56.9
50.8
69.2
38.0
59.6
49.8
All
other
fields
.7
9.7
8.5
.1
3.1
—
2.6
3.9
.6
5.6
Physics ........
566
100.0
1/78.6
-
13.4
8.0
Biology ........
1,138
100.0
64.5
29.4
2.2
3.9
183
247
371
184
153
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
60.1
47.0
74.9
74.5
60.8
27.3
46.6
18.9
25.0
35.3
7.1
.8
1.1
.5
3.3
5.5
5.6
5.1
Bacteriology....
Biology, general
Botany ........
Entomology .....
Zoology .......
—
.6
1/ This figure includes all jobs in any branch of physics, because this
field was not further subdivided.
highest among the physicists (8 per
cent) who tended to be the most
mobile group in the study and lowest
(zero) among the entomologists. Even
for the physicists, however, it is
clear that the fields of highest com
petence are generally reliable indi
cations of their work experience.
For purposes of classifying
scientists in broader terms, the gen
eral field of highest competence is
satisfactory, insofar as it is an ex
cellent guide to the experience of
most scientists. Ninety-one percent
of all the jobs in the study were in
the general fields in which the sci
entists considered themselves most
competent (table 11). Even in the
case of the physicists, a relatively
high proportion of whom had entered
that field from other sciences, less
than a fifth of the recorded jobs were
outside physics.
The S p e c ia lt ie s o f the
F irst J o b s
The finding, that information
on scientists* fields of highest com
petence serves as a good indication
of their experience, is emphasized
by the data on the specialties of
their first jobs. A part of the
scientists' limited experience out
side their fields of highest compe
tence was gained in their first pro
fessional positions (as shown by the
figures presented below). Needless
to say, initial experience is much
less significant as an indication of
competence in a given specialty than
is later more advanced work.
Some new college graduates have
- 26 no clear-cut career alms; others are
forced by circumstances to take the
first jobs offered. Moreover, in past
years, recent graduates were not
always as eagerly welcomed by pro
spective employers as they have been
during this period of defense pre
parations. For all these reasons, a
relatively high proportion of the
first jobs held by these scientists
were in entirely different disciplines
from those in which they later spe
cialized— 16 percent compared with 9
percent of all the jobs studied
(table 12).
Somewhat different factors ac
count for the sizable number of
scientists who started out in the
same general fields but different
specific specialties from those in
which they currently consider them
selves most competent. These scien
tists often financed their graduate
studies by working as laboratory
assistants in the university depart
ments in which they were taking their
degrees.
Many assistant teaching
posts are for introductory courses,
and the subjects taught in such a
course may or may not be closely re
lated to those in which the teach
ing assistant is specializing. Hence,
a considerable number of fledgling
Ph.D.'s in organic chemistry, for
example, may find themselves teach
ing inorganic chemistry.
Such cir
cumstances are in some measure re
sponsible for the fact that a higher
proportion of the scientists' first
jobs (4-8 percent) than of all their
jobs (38 percent) were outside their
specific fields of highest competence.
It should be noted, however,
that 52 percent of the respondents
were employed in their fields of
highest competence at the outset of
their professional careers. The study
indicates that about one out of every
Table 12.— Comparison of scientists* field of highest competence with their field of speciali
zation on first job
Percent of scientists with first job in --r
Total
number
reporting
first job
All
fields
All fields ........
1/ 1,118
100.0
C h e m i s t r y .........
615
General .........
Analytical ......
Biochemistry ....
Inorganic .......
Organic ........ .
Physical ........
21
41
71
42
270
170
Physics ...........
164
Biology ...........
339
100.0
56.4
26.5
17.1
54
71
113
54
47
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
40.8
42.3
73.5
57.4
53.2
33.3
3B.0
8.8
35.2
34.0
25.9
19.7
17.7
7.4
12.8
Field of
highest
competence
Bacteriology ••••
Biology .........
B o t a n y ..........
E n t o m o l o g y ......
Z o o l o g y .... .
1/
Specific field
of highest
competence
Different specific
field but same general
fields as that of
highest competence
52.1
32.2
15.7
100.0
44-6
43.9
11.5
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
66.7
36.6
52.1
28.6
47.4
40.0
19.0
46.3
28.2
50.0
45.9
48.2
14*3
17.1
19.7
21.4
6.7
11.8
100.0
71.3
—
28.7
Excludes 4 scientists who did not report field of employment on first job.
Other
general
fields
- 27 -
Table 13.— Comparison of major subjects for doctor's and bachelor's
degrees 1/
Major subject Total
number
for Ph.D.
reporting
degree
Chemistry ..
Physics ....
Biology ....
Other .....
569
HO
309
42
Percent of scientists with bachelor's
degrees in—
All
subjects
Chemistry
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
85H
3.6
5.2
16.7
Physics
0.9
77.2
—
2.4
Biology
1.1
—
72.3
23.8
Other
12.6
19.2
22.5
57.1
1/ Excludes 20 scientists who did not report major subject of
Ph.D., 33 who did not report major subject for bachelor's degree, and
9 who reported neither.
two Ph.D. scientists starts out and
continues to work in the same spe
cific field throughout the greater
part of his
professional life.
R o le of Education in D e t e r m in
in g S c ie n t is t s ’ S p e c ia lt ie s
Although most of these scien
tists had developed the interest that
was to shape their lives by the time
they were juniors in college, some
changed their majors when they en
tered graduate school. There was alas
another much smaller group of scien
tists who, by the time of the sur
vey, were no longer specialists in
the fields in which they had taken
their doctor's degrees.
Seventeen percent of the scien
tists earned their baccalaureates
and their doctorates in different
fields (table 13). For most of the
247228 0 - 5 3 - 5
scientists, however, the field of
graduate study was closely related
to the scientist's undergraduate
major. True, 1 man ha(d a bachelor's
degree in architecture; another in
business administration; 2 had begun
in geology; and 18 had started out
as students of the liberal arts. But
the largest group of chemists who had
not majored in chemistry as under
graduates had studied chemical engi
neering; the largest group of bio
logists with undergraduate majors
outside the biological sciences had
specialized in agriculture; and more
physics recruits from other fields
came from mathematics than from any
other subject (table B, p. 57).
One reason wny most of these
scientists majored in the same sub
jects in both their graduate and
undergraduate work is that they began
their graduate studies either immedia-
- 28 Table 14.— Scientists with bachelor's and doctor's degrees in same major
subject,by interval between award of bachelor's and doctor's degree
\J
Number of years between
receipt of bachelor's
and of doctor's degree
Total
number
reporting
Total
Percent of scientists
With bachelor'8 and
doctor's degree in—
Same
subject
Different
subjects
Total ....................
2/1,069
100.0
83.2
16.8
Under 4 years ............
4 - 6 years ............
7 - 9 years ............
1 0 - 1 4 years ............
15 years or m o r e ...... ..
166
526
209
126
42
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
89.2
85.9
76.6
79-4
69.0
10.8
14.1
23.4
20.6
31.0
1/
For purposes of this table, the basis of comparison for the
bachelor's and doctor's degrees was the general discipline, such as, chem
istry, biology, and physics.
2/ Excludes 20 scientists who did not report date of Ph.D., 24 who
did not report date of bachelor's degree, and 9 who reported neither date.
ately or shortly after they received
their bachelor's degrees. Two-thirds
of them
earned their
doctorates
within 6 years after receiving the
bachelor's degree. 15/ The longer
the interval between the receipt
of a baccalaureate and a doctorate,
the greater the likelihood
of a
shift in the student's
major
field. The proportion of scientists
who changed majors was only 11
percent for the group who obtained
their doctorates within 3 years aft
er bachelor's degree, in contrast
to 31 percent for the men who waited
15 years or longer to take their
doctorates (table 14).
For those men who had changed
major subjects when they began gradu
ate work, it was the graduate rather
than the undergraduate major that
more often played a determining role
in the scientists’ careers (table 14).
15/ A study of all the scientists who earned their
1936 and 1948 showed that the modal time elppsed between
doctor's degree was 4 years, the median 6 years, and the
"The Production of Doctorates in the Sciences: 1936-48."
American Council on Education. 1951, p. 95.
doctorates between
the bachelor's and
mean 8 years. See
Washington, D. C.,
- 29 Only 2 percent of the scientists were
specialists, at the time of the stud$
in general fields in which they had
majored as undergraduates but not as
graduate students. On the other hand,
14. percent had altered their courses
of study when they became candidates
for the doctorate, and still regarded
the general fields of their doctor's
degrees as those of their highest
competence (table 15^.
In their decisions to transfer,
from one discipline to another,
scientists are apparently influenced
to some extent by the demand for
personnel.
Physics expanded much
more rapidly than either chemistry
or biology in the period immediately
prior to 194-8, the year when these
data were obtained; and the men who
classified themselves in 1948 as
physicists were outstanding not only
in the proportion who had earned their
doctorates in a different field but
also in the number who had first be
gun to specialize in physics as
graduate students. More than twice
as large a proportion of physicists
(12 percent) as of biologists and
chemists had taken their doctorates
in a different general field from
that of their highest competence*
Moreover, a relatively larger number
of physicists (20 percent) than of
biologists and chemists (13 percent)
had majored in that field only at
the graduate level.
In most cases, Ph.D. candidates
specialize in a particular branch
of their general field.
A graduate
Table 15.— Comparison of major subjects for bachelor’s and doctor's degrees
with scientists' general fields of highest competence
Percent of scientists
Major subject same as general field
of highest compe- >ence
For
For
For
bache
nei
For both Ph.D.
and bachelor's
lor's
ther
Ph.D.
degree
degrees
only
de
only
gree
{
Field of
highest
competence
Total
number
reporting
Total
>060
100.0
79-9
M.2
■1.9
4*0
Chemistry ......
578
100.0
81.6
14-.2
1.4
2.8
Physics .......
154
100.0
68.2
19.5
1.3
11.0
Biology .......
328
100.0
82.3
n.9
3.1
2.7
All fields ....
\/
lA
Excludes 20 scientists who did not report major subject for Ph.D.,
33 who did not report major subject for bachelor's degree, and 9 who did not
report major subject for either degree.
- 30 -
student of chemistry takes much of
his work in one branch of chemistry.
In the biological sciences, graduate
work is almost entirely devoted to
the major field of study. The ques
tion arises, therefore, as to the
extent to which such highly special
ized training is utilized by the sci
entists in later life.
A partial answer to this ques
tion is given in table C, p. 58 .
Most biologists remained in the spe
cific field in which they had taken
their doctorates.
Eighty-five per
cent of the botanists, 94 percent of
the entomologists, and 73 percent of
the zoologists had received a doc
torate in these respective fields. 16/
For technical reasons, the figures
are less conclusive for the chemists,
but it appears that few chemists spe
cialize in a branch of chemistry other
than that of their Ph.D. major. The
largest group of chemists with train
ing in a branch of chemistry outside
their specific field of highest com
petence was found among the analytical
chemists; 21 percent had majored for
their doctorate in organic, inorganic,
or physical chemistry, or in biochem
istry.
So m e Im p lic a t io n s
The foregoing analysis has
shown that Ph.D. scientists can and
do transfer from one
branch of a
scientific field to another and even
between disciplines, but that most
of them spend the greater part of
their working lives in one special
ty or in a closely related field.
One group of scientists in the study
(the 8 percent not currently employed
in chemistry, physics, or biology)
showed a high degree cf mobility. In
addition, a small group of people with
Ph.D.'s in the fields covered by the
study whose activities had carried
them so far afield that they no longer
considered themselves primarily phys
icists, chemists, or biologists, were
excluded from the sample. By
and
large, however, Ph.D. scientists are
sti'ongly attached to their fields of
specialization.
No statistical analysis can
indicate to what extent this attach
ment results from the attitudes
of Ph.D. scientists toward their
work and to what degree it is deter
mined by the requirements of em
ployers. The fact that most of the
men chose their current specialties
while still undergraduates suggests
that the selection of these special
ties expressed deep-rooted interests.
Further, the minimum of 3 years of
postgraduate study required for a
Ph.D. degree represents too great a
commitment to be set aside easily. It
is well known, however, that once a
professional person gains experience
and competence in his field, he can
not transfer to another field except
at some sacrifice of either prestige
or earnings. The fact that a doctor
of philosophy has a highly specialized
training is in itself a barrier to
occupational mobility.
16/ Reliance should not be placed on the relatively low proportion of
bacteriologists (65 percent) who appear to have received a degree in that
field. One important branch of that field, parasitology, is, for some pur
poses and in some schools, classified under zoology. This explains why
15 percent of the bacteriologists in this study had doctorates classified
as in the field of zoology.
- 31 -
There is reason to believe that
scientists with less academic train
ing than Ph.D.'s have less attach
ment to a given field of specialisa
tion than do Ph.D.'s.
A 1951 survey
of physicists showed that 9 out of
10 Ph.D.'s had taken their highest
degrees in this field, compared with 3
out of
holders of master's degrees
and slightly more than two-thirds of
those holding only bachelor's de
grees. 17/ Moreover, only a fourth
of all the scientists in the sur
U
vey but close to half of those cur
rently employed outside of physics
held only bachelor's degrees. These
findings suggest a close relation
between the degree of attachment
to a given scientific field and the
extent of academic training in it.
A study of occupational mobility
which would include scientists at all
levels of education would undoubtedly
show a greater amount of occupational
mobility than one, like the present,
based on Ph.D.'s alone.
TRANSFERS BETWEEN FUNCTIONS
The analysis of the extent to
which scientists shift from one kind
of activity to another and the pat
tern of such movements requires a
classification of the many kinds of
work scientists do. This classifica
tion, like that of scientific spe
cialties, involves problems of defi
nition. What is the distinction be
tween research and development? Where
does routine analysis end and re
search begin? Where should the line
be drawn between administration and
other activities? These are some of
the questions yet to be solved to
the satisfaction of all or even a
majority of students of scientific
personnel.
17/
Manpower Resources
Physics, 1951. op.cit., p. 11.
in
In the present study, classifi
cation was determined by examining
the information contained in the
questionnaires and setting up as many
categories of functions as could be
distinguished.
The following 16
categories were created:
routine
analysis and testing, and other rou
tine professional work; design; de
velopment; research; technical ad
ministration; administration; college
teaching; college teaching assistance
(particularly laboratory assistance);
other teaching (in elementary,
secondary, technical, and vocational
schools); sales and technical sales
and service; technical writing; non
technical editing and writing; wild
life management; extension work; and
consulting.
A change in activity was re
corded whenever a man's principal
function shifted from one of the
above-named types of activities to
another.
No analysis was made of
secondary functions, such as parttime teaching or consulting, carried
- 32 -
Table 16.—Current functions performed by sc ie n tists in study, by fie ld of highest
competence, 1948
Percent distribution
Chemistry Physics
Current function
A ll
fie ld s
College teaching . . • • • ..............................
College teaching a s s is ta n c e ......................
Other te a c h in g .................................................
Routine professional ivork..........................
Research ..............................................................
Development........................................................
Design ..................................................................
Technical administration ............................
Administration .................................................
Consulting ................. ........................................
S ales, technical sa le s, and services ..
Estimating and cost analysis ....................
Editing and writing ............................ ..
Technical w r itin g ...........................................
Extension w ork...................................... ....
Wild l i f e management ............................
Other ........................................ .......................
38.3
.4
.3
.1
30.0
2.0
.1
20.5
4.5
1.3
.7
.1
.1
.3
.3
.5
.5
26.3
.2
.5
—
34.0
1.8
—
28.0
5.0
1.8
1.3
.2
.2
.2
—
.5
—
.6
—
—
—
T o t a l.........................................................
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
616
166
340
Total number rep o rtin g ................. ...............
on along with other activities which
occupied most of the scientists'
time.
At the time
of the
—
1,122
51.2
1.2
—
27.7
4.2
10.3
3.6
1.2
—
—
—
—
Biology
53.8
.6
.3
23.5
1,2
.3
11.7
4.1
.6
—
—
—
—
.3
.9
1.8
.9
The E x te n t o f F u n c tio n a l
M o b ilit y
survey, in
194.8 , more than half the biologists
and physicists were employed mainly
or solely as college teachers.
Re
search was, however, the predominant
activity of the chemists} close to
two-thirds either were doing work
classed as research or were employed
as technical administrators, with
responsibility for directing re
search activities. 18/
Only 5 per
cent of the scientists held adminis
trative positions, 2 percent were in
development, and less than 2 percent
were engaged in any of the other
list types of activities (table 16).
An analysis of the activities
carried out by scientists on the jobs
studied suggests that Ph.D. scien
tists characteristically move from
one type of activity to another.
Four out of every five scientists in
the sample had performed more than
one of the functions listed above
(table 17). Of the men who had held
four jobs, three out of every five
had worked in at least three dif
ferent kinds of activities.
Threefifths of those who had held only
two jobs had ohanged functions be
tween these jobs.
18/ Technical administration was defined to include supervision of a
group of scientists, direction of research activities, and liaison between
the research division of an organization and other divisions. Persons with
responsibility for business administration, production, or construction were
called administrators as were college presidents and deans.
- 33 Some of these shifts in function
represented progress up the promo
tional ladder. Since administrative
jobs are usually obtainable only a'ter
long experience, it was among the
scientists employed as administrators
that the proportion who had performed
in three or more different functions
was highest (81 percent). 19/ Technics]
*3/
The administrators were
also the oldest group in the sample;
their median age was 46 years com
pared with 38 years for the research
scientists and 40 years for the
entire sample.
Table 1 7 .—Number o f fu n ctio n s
F ie ld o f h ig h e st
competence and
number o f jo b s
A ll f ie ld s ..............................
1 job ...................................
2 job s ................................
3 jo b s .................................
4 job s ...............................
C hem istry ................................
1 job ...................................
2 job s ...........................
3 j o b s .................... ............
4 j o b s ................................
P h ysics ................. ...................
1 j o b ...................................
2 jobs ................................
3 j o b s ............... ................
4 job s ................................
B io log y .....................................
1 job ...................................
2 job s ................................
3 jo b s ................................
4 jo b s ................................
y
T otal
number o f
s c ie n t is t s
rep ortin g
administration is usually an in
termediate stage in professional
advancement, and 54 percent of
the technical administrators had
three or more principal func
tions in the course of the jobs
covered by the study. The relative
numbers of college teachers and
research scientists with expe
rience in as many as three dif
ferent functions were considerably
smaller (30 and 24 percent, re
spectively), but high enough to
indicate that only a part of
the scientists* functional mobi
lity was a reflection of profes
sional advancement (table 18).
performed by s c ie n t is t s on job s in clu d ed in study
P ercent o f s c ie n t is t s
T otal
Number o f fu n ctio n s performed
Three
One
Four
Two
1,122
100.0
19.3
56
197
255
61 4
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
616
42
122
151
301
4 1 .8
41.8
—
31.5
—
—
—
14-1
7.0
58.2
53.7
35.6
32.2
44*0
100.0
20.2
41.9
29.9
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
38.3
166
3
26
—
7.4
—
——
--- 1
—
13.4
a .o
—
—
—
4.9
61.7
51.0
35.5
34-4
43.4
16.2
100.0
15.7
37.3
39.8
7.2
108
(2/)
100.0
100.0
100.0
(2/)
36.0
10.7
10.0
64.0
60.7
26.4
28.6
52.7
340
100.0
19.7
44.1
30.6
11
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
52.9
14-5
8.9
47.1
56.6
41.1
28.9
40.6
29
49
75
205
1 4 -6
—
■—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
10*9
5.6
—
—
—
9-4
1 /, Such a s c o lle g e tea ch in g , resea rch , and co n su ltin g . For com plete l i s t see ta b le 16.
2 / Number too sm all to warrant c a lc u la tin g p ercen ta ges.
- 34 Table 18.— Number of functions performed by scientists on jobs
included in study, by current function
Current function and
number of jobs
Total reporting ....
College teaching ..
Research ........
Development .....
Technical administration ••••
Administration ....
Consulting
Other ...........
One j o b ....... .
College teaching *.
Research «•••••••••
Other...........
Two jobs ...........
College teaching ..
Research .........
Technical ad
ministration ....
Other ................
................
College teaching *«
Research....... ....
Technical ad
ministration ....
Other ................
Four jobs ................
College teaching ..
Research .............
Development .......
Technical ad
ministration ....
Administration ....
Consulting ..........
Other .................
Three jobs
1/
Total
number of
scientists
reporting
Percent of scientists
Total
Number of functions performed
One
Two
Three
1,122
100.0
19.8
42.6
30.2
7.4
431
336
22.2
13.6
47.7
44.8
36.4
24.8
30.7
22
100.0
100.0
100.0
22.7
40.9
5.3
1.8
9.1
228
52
15
38
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
7.0
38.6
—
19.2
10.5
40.8
59.6
40.0
44.7
13.6
21.2
26.7
15.8
56
100.0
100.0
21
23
12
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
197
100.0
42.9
57.1
80
100.0
100.0
47.5
50.0
52.5
50.0
31
10
100.0
19.4
80.6
255
100.0
105
87
43
0/)
—
33.3
29.0
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
0/)
—
—
_i
—
—
—
14.5
53.5
32.0
100.0
100.0
14.3
25.3
62.8
22,9
27.6
—
47.1
—
—
46.5
47.6
53.5
52.4
—
20
100.0
100.0
614
100.0
7.6
37.2
41.7
13.5
225
150
100.0
100.0
100.0
9.7
14.0
43.4
47.3
36.7
34*7
20.0
60.0
10.2
4.0
20.0
100.0
1.4
29.5
—
10.0
23.1
25.8
47.9
62.5
46.1
48.3
21.2
27.5
30.8
19.4
76
10
146
40
13
30
G/>
100.0
100.0
100.0
0/)
G/>
~
—
6.5
Number too small to warrant computing percentages.
Four
;
—
—
—
—
—
—
- 35 -
P a tte r n s of F u n c tio n a l
M ovem ent
Apart from transfers in func
tions which represented normal ad
vancement from the lower to the
higher professional grades, the most
frequent shifts were between teach
More
ing and research (table 19).
than a third of the scientists who
had held three or more jobs and who
were currently engaged in research
and technical administration had
previously worked as regular college
teachers, and more than 40 percent
of the college teachers had at some
time worked as full-time research
scientists. Movement between college
teaching and research was somewhat
less common in chemistry than in
physics and biology.
Relatively few scientists had
previous experience in work other
than research and college teaching.
About 7 percent of the scientists
for whom three or four jobs were
recorded and who were currently en
gaged in research, administration,
and technical administration, and 5
percent of the comparable group of
college teachers had experience in
development.
About 13 percent of
the college teachers had taught in
high school. A few of the biologists
had experience in wild life manage
ment or in extension work. Seven
percent of the physicists had worked
as writers and editors. Only a hand
ful in each scientific field had
worked as sales and/or technical
sales personnel, as designers, or as
consultants (table 19).
Much of the scientists' __ ex
perience outside of research, oollege
teaching, technical administration,
and administration was gained in
their first professional positions.
A third of the scientists had begun
their careers as college teaching
assistants, usually with responsibi
lity for the laboratory in a few
science courses. 20/ Next to work
as a college teaching assistant, the
most frequent first activity of
these scientists was research, in
which a fourth of the scientists
had begun their careers.
Another
sizable group (20 percent) had star
ted as full-fledged college teachers.
Surprisingly few (9 percent) had
started out in the traditional be
ginners' work of routine testing and
analysis or routine classification.
High school teaching, another occupa
tion often regarded as transitional
by the young men who start in it,
had also engaged very few of these
scientists at the onset of their
careers (table D, p. 59).
There was some relation ueuween
the scientists' first job activities
and their current ones.
More than
70 percent of the college teachers
but only about half the research
scientists and technical administra
tors had been employed initially in
a teaching position of some kind.
More than twice as high a proportion
of the research scientists as of the
college teachers had started out in
20/
Some men went back to
school after having begun to work,
and some of these financed their ad
vanced' schooling through assistant
teaching posts.
For this reason, a
larger proportion had some experience
in assistant teaching in the course
of the studied jobs than was the
case for the first professional
position.
Table 19*— Comparison of previous functions with present function,for scientists with 3 or 4 jobs in
this study
Percent with prior experience in
Field of highest
competence and
current function
All fields:
College teaching ......
R e s e a r c h ..............
Technical administratioi
Administration ........
Total
number
reporting
Routine
profes
sional
work
College
College
teaching
teaching
assistance
238
10.6
11.0
189
49
12.2
8.2
Technical administratior
fl+.m r>7i ........
113
137
HO
31
11.5
10.9
H.3
9.7
Physics:
College teaching ......
72
8.3
47.2
2.8
45-9
30.8
Chemistry:
College teaching .....
Research
Research
. . ............
..............
Technical administratior
Administration
........
Biology:
College teaching .....
Research
..
..............j
Technical administratior
Administration
................
2/
331
37
54.1
2 1.9
36
8.3
66.4
50.0
58.3
83.3
Technical administratior
Administration ........
27.5
46.9
2 .1
8 .2
11.5
9.5
29-3
3.5
58.1
9.7
5.6
16.7
15H
(3/)
__
—
(2/)
Research
...........
..............
Technical administratior
Administration
................
Physics:
College teaching
Research
Technical administratior
Administration
...........
........................... ..
................
Biology:
College teaching
......... .
8.2
Technical administratior
Administration
10.9
25.0
25.0
...............
2 .1
j
j
:
—
5.3
7.3
2.2
—
___
i
if
|:
1
|j
!1
11
|
—
2 .8
—
7*
1.4
__
—
(2/)
.7
1.6
”
1
6.5
50.0
77.8
1 1 .1
Sales,
Editing
technical
a nd
sales, and writing
services
u
—
i
8.6
51.6
—
—
__
(2 /)
—
1.6
8.3
—
Extension
work and
wild life
management
7.7
—
Other
1.2
1.8
1.7
1.3
.5
1 .1
2 .0
2 .1
—
—
—
—
—
(3/)
(3/)
__
-
—
__
—
(
|
t1
.5
.4
6.5
1.4
1 .1
0.6
2 .0
—
.7
.7
—
.7
—
1.7
1.8
2.9
.9
a /)
Design
0.6
6 .1
—
16.7
41.1
79.7
55.6
58.3
.5
2 .0
.6
73.7
76.4
(2 /)
12.3
7.8
__
7.9
92.3
U/)
0.6
.4
2.8
8.3
Estimating
and cost
analysis
0.6
.7
i __
6 .1
i
:
|
j
1i
(2/)
27.8
25.0
__
4.5
7.2
15.3
8.3
7.7
11.0
15.6
0.9
43.2
75.9
73.5
49.0
73.6
47.2
146
64
Consulting
13.0
5.5
5.3
4.1
,,
a
76.9
Adminis
tration
Develop
ment
12.4
3.6
5.7
3.2
Q /)
8.8
11.0
Chemistry:
College teaching
37.1
29.0
—
Research
61.9
27.0
34-3
41.9
(17)
..............
Research
53.1
6
12
Other
teaching
66.5
36.3
41.8
57.1
----------
48.2
13
Technical
adminis
tration
All fields:
College teaching ......
52.3
40.8
34-9
24.5
1/
i
—
1.4
—
7.7
(2 /)
.7
__
—
8.3
!|
j
1
4.1
—
___.
—
—
6.5
—
—
—
(2 /)
—
5.6
—
(2/)
4.2
6.2
5.6
8.3
1.4
1.8
.7
2 .1
2.8
1/ The percentages in this table are in each case based on the total number of scientists shown
in the first column, but are not mutually exclusive. That is, a scientist with experience in 3 dif
ferent jobs was listed 3 times.
2/ Excludes 249 sqientists for whom only 1 or 2 jobs were recorded and 66 with functions other
than those shown.
3/ Number too small to warrant calculating percentages.
Lj Including technical wilting.
- 37 -
research. A much higher proportion
of the administrators than of any
other group had started out
as
full-fledged college teachers.
In
considering these findings, however,
it must be noted that some men
whose first and current posi
tions were both in teaching had
held intermediate positions as
research scientists.
Likewise,
some of the research scientists
who had started out in this work
had taught in a college at some
point in their careers.
This analysis of changes in
the scientists• principal func
tions takes no account of the
sizable amount of part-time teach
ing by men engaged mainly in re
search nor the great volume of
part-time research done by col
lege teachers.
A college teacher
may have no contractual obliga
tion to carry out a research project,
but his standing in the academic
community and his professional ad
vancement depend to a great ex
tent upon his research achieve
ments and publications.
It has
been said that much of the dif
ference between a research scien
tist and a university professor
is that the
latter chooses his
research problem and the former
has it chosen for him. This view
represents only part of the truth*
more of the Nation's research is
done in industrial and government
laboratories than on the campus.
However, the findings of this
study suggest that a professor of,
for example, organic chemistry and
a research chemist in that field
have more in common than an or
ganic and an inorganic chemist.
Although Ph.D. scientists can and
sometimes do transfer from one
specialty to another, such movement
is much less common than shifts in
function, particularly between re
search and teaching.
- 38 -
TRANSFERS BETWEEN TYPES OF EMPLOYERS
Scientists have a high degree
of mobility with respect to the types
of employers for whom they work, as
well as the functions they perform.
This is shown in the present study,
even though the categories used in
classifying the organizations employ
ing the scientists were broad. 21/
These were: education, government,
private industry, nonprofit founda
tion, independent consulting work,
and other self-employment.
Three
out of every five scientists in
the study had held jobs in at
least two of these categories
(table 20).
Of the scientists who
had worked for four different em
ployers in the course of the jobs
studied, three-fourths had made one
or more changes in type of employ
ment: a sizable group (17 percent)
had worked for three different kinds
of employers, and a few had worked
for a different type of employer on
each of the four jobs.
who
The proportion of scientists
had always worked for one
type of employer was much higher
among those currently employed in
education than among those
in
other fields— 58 percent, compared
with 20 percent (table 21).
More
over, differences in type-of-employer mobility among the groups
in fields other than
education
were smaller than the difference
between the educators and all the
other scientists taken together.
Apart from the extremely small
number currently self-employed, the
group of scientists who had been
most mobile were the nonprofit
foundation employees. Sixty percent
of these employees
had worked
for two types of employers
and
37 percent for three types. A
higher proportion of scientists
currently working for the govern
ment than of
scientists
in
private industry had worked for
two or more classes of employers,
but this difference was partly due
to the fact that the government
employees tended to be older than
the private industry scientists. 22J
21/ The extent of mobility recorded depends in part on the number of
categories in a given classification system.
Thus, for purposes of the
present analysis, 5 type-of-employer categories were used, 16 function
categories, 48 location categories (States), and an even higher number of
specific specialties.
It follows then that the probability, purely in
terms of chance, that any given scientist would work for more than one type
of employer was smaller than that he would work in more than one specialty.
22/ The median age of the government employees was 43 years, of the
educators 41 years, and of the scientists in private industry 39 years.
- 39 -
Table 20.— Number of types of employers for whom scientists worked on
jobs included in study
F i eld o f highest
competence and
n u m b e r of
em
ployers in study
Total
number of
scientists
reporting
P e r c e n t of scientists
Total
N u m b e r of types o f
e m p l o y e r s w o r k e d for
One
Two
49-7
Three
Four
.......
1,122
100.0
41.0
e mployer .....
employers ....
e m ployers ....
e m ployers ....
113
279
349
381
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
50.5
30.9
25.5
49.5
58.5
56.7
—
10.6
17.0
C he m i s t r y ........
616
100.0
38.3
52.6
8.8
1 emp l o y e r .....
79
159
193
185
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
47.8
23.8
18.9
52.2
65.3
62.2
10.9
17.8
—
...........
166
100.0
45.8
43 »4
10.8
—
1 e m p l o y e r .....
2 e mployers ....
3 empl o y e r s ....
4 empl o y e r s ....
9
39
45
73
a/)
100.0
100.0
100.0
(1/)
53.8
42.2
37.0
46.2
40.0
49.3
17.8
13.7
B i o l o g y .......... .
340
100.0
43.5
47.7
8.5
25
81
111
123
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
54.3
38.7
29.3
45.7
54.1
52.8
—
A ll fields
1
2
3
4
2 emp l o y e r s ....
3 e m ployers ....
4 e m ployer s .....
P hysics
1
2
3
4
e m p l o y e r .....
emp l o y e r s ....
e m ployers ....
e m ployers ....
1/
9.0
—
—
—
—
.8
.3
——
——
—
—
1.1
—
—
7.2
17.1
Number too small to warrant calculating percentages
0.3
—
—
—
.3
—
—
.8
- -40 -
Table 2 1 . — Num b e r of types of employers for w h o m s c i e ntists w o r k e d on jobs
i ncluded i n study, b y type o f current e mployer
Field of highest
competence and type
of current employer
Total
number of
scientists
reporting
Percent of scientists
Total
Number of types of
employers worked for
One
Three
Two
Four
1 /1,066
100.0
37.8
52.2
9.7
499
146
379
12
30
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
58.1
15.1
23-7
—
3.3
38.5
68.5
64.1
33.3
60.0
3-4
15.7
11.9
58.4
36.7
574
100.0
33.6
56.6
9.4
190
55
307
7
15
100.0
100.0
100.0
(1/)
100.0
53.9
14.5
27.0
—
—
42.4
60.0
65.2
3.7
23.7
7.5
163
100.0
44*8
43.6
11.6
—
Educational institution.
Government.... .
Private industry ......
Self-employed 2/ .....
Foundation ...........
110
13
33
3
4
100.0
100.0
100.0
39.1
69.2
51.5
1.8
23.1
30.3
—
<2/>
a/)
59.1
7.7
18.2
—
(3/)
m
0 /)
(2/)
0/)
Biology .................
329
100.0
41.6
49.0
9.1
Educational institution.
Government...........
Private industry .......
Self-employed 2/ .....
Foundation ............
199
78
39
2
11
100.0
100.0
100.0
61.8
16.7
2.5
—
34.2
74.3
66.7
—
81.8
4.0
9.0
30.8
All fields .............
Educational institution.
Government ............
Private industry ......
Self-employed 2/ ......
Foundation ............
Chemistry..............
Educational institution.
Government ............
Private industry ......
Self-employed 2/ .......
Foundation ...........
Physics ................
1/
2/
2/
a/)
100.0
(2/>
53.3
do
46.7
€2/)
18.2
E xcludes 56 scientists for w h o m o n l y 1 job was recorded.
Includes independent consultants.
N u m b e r too small to war r a n t c a l c u lating percentages.
0.3
—
.7
.3
8.3
—
.4
—
1.8
•3
—
——
—
—
—
.3
—*
—
a/)
“
—
- u tween their first and second jobs
and their third and fourth jobs.
About 70 percent of those who had
been educators before these job
changes remained on the campus there
after, but less than half of those
who had been government employees
stayed in government (tables 22 and
23). 2 2 / The scientists in private
industry were more likely to remain
in the same type of employment than
were the government employees, but
less apt to do so than the educators.
A comparison also has been made
of the types of employers for whom
the scientists had worked on the
first and second recorded jobs and
on the third and fourth jobs.
Well
over half the scientists for whom
information was available did not
change their type of employer be
tween the first and second jobs
(table 22).
This was true also for
the third and fourth jobs (table 23) •
It should be noted, however, that a
change in job, as defined in this
study, did not always involve a
change in the employing organization:
about 19 percent of the scientists
for whom a second job was recorded
worked for the same organization on
this job as on the first, and 38 per
cent of those for whom four jobs were
recorded did not change employers
between the last two jobs. If the
analysis had been limited to job
shifts which involved a change in em
ployer, the percentage of shifts
found to represent transfers from
one type of employer to another would
undoubtedly have been higher.
The figures in tables 22 and 23
also indicate that more than twothirds of the scientists who left the
government, private industry, or a
foundation for another type of em
ployment entered educational insti
tutions. The largest numbers en
tering education from other types of
employment came from private industry,
but the proportion of government em
ployees who left the government for
education was higher than the cor
responding proportion of private in
dustry employees.
The conclusion indicated pre
viously that college faculty members
were the group least prone to shift
to other types of employment is borne
out by the scientists’ movement's be
The fact that the universities
were able to compete successfully
with other types of employers in at
tracting and retaining scientists is
noteworthy in .view of the low salary
23/
It should not be inferred that larger numbers of these scientists
worked for universities on the second job than on the first or in the fourth
job compared with the third.
As between the first and second jobs, in
fact, the absolute numbers employed in universities declined, because a cer
tain number of scientists had been working as teaching assistants in. order
to finance their studies and severed their university ties when they obtained
their doctorates.
Even as between the third and fourth jobs, however, the
number who entered the universities from other types of employment just about
balanced the number who left the universities.
- 42 levels prevailing in educational in
stitutions. 2 u f Apparently, the ad
vantages of university employment,
such as freedom of research, are suf
ficiently strong to countervail, in
the minds of many scientists,
the
economic handicaps such employment
imposes. 25/
The extent of mobility and its
direction is, however, as much a
matter of economic opportunity as of
personal preference.
The decision
to remain in university employment
reflected, at least in some cases,
nothing more than the lack of an
alternative opportunity.
Chemists,
who are more widely used in industry
than the other scientists, were the
group who most often left universi
ties for other types of employment.
Less than two-thirds of the chemists
but three-fourths of the biologists
and physicists remained in education
in the job changes recorded’in tables
22 and 23.
Moreover, most of the
chemists who left education, and
close to half of those who trans
ferred out of government went into
private industry.
On the other
hand, among the biologists who have
limited opportunities for industrial
employment, those who left educa
tional institutions most often en
tered the government.
These figures give no information
on the trends in the employment of*
Ph.D. scientists.
That there has
been an increase in the number of
Ph.D. scientists in government and
private industry is well known.
These data suggest, however, that
the recruits into government and
industry have come in large measure
from the ranks of the newly created
doctors of philosophy rather than
from among scientists already estab
lished as educators. 26/
£*4/ The median salary in 1948 of the Ph.D.'s employed exclusively in
educational institutions was $4,860 a year, of those working solely for
government agencies, $6,280} and of private industry employees, $7,070.
Bulletin No. 1027, op.cit., p. 45• It does not follow, however, that the
individual scientist who shifted into education suffered a reduction in
earnings.
.25/ A survey of a group of scientists who left government jobs in
1948 indicated that these scientists considered university employment on
the whole the most desirable for technical work.
See Clark D. Ahlberg and
John C. Honey, Attitudes of Scientists ana Engineers about their Govern
ment Employment, Syracuse University, 1950, Vol. 1, p. 40.
26/ That there has been a distinct tendency among the young Ph.D.
scientists to go into research rather than into teaching is clear from the
findings of two recent surveys of physicists and chemists, conducted by the
National Scientific Register. See Manpower Resources in Physics, 1951.
op.cit., and Manpower Resources in Chemistry, 1951. a forthcoming report by
the U. S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics and the National
Scientific Register.
Table 22.— Types of employers for whom scientists worked on second job in study compared
with type of employer on first job
Field of highest competence
and type of employer on
first job
Total
number
reporting
_
All fields 1
Educational institution . •
Government
Private industry ........ .
F o u n d a t i o n ........
y
602
83
160
19
....
Percent employed on second job by All types of
employers
Educational
institution
Government
10 0 .0
10 0 .0
10 0 .0
10 0 .0
6 8 .9
1 2 .3
Private
industry
Independent
consultant
Founda
tion
Other
0.3
2.2
—
—
2 .A
—
—
A S .2
A3. A
38.1
57.9
10.6
10.5
16.3
6.0
51.3
21.1
7.0
33-3
11.5
(2/)
27.3
U.8
53.4
(2/)
(2/)
11.0
(2/)
——
Chemistry:
Educational institution ..
Government ...............
Private industry ..•••••••
F o u n d a t i o n .... .
286
27
131
8
10 0 .0
10 0 .0
10 0 .0
(2/)
63.6
51.9
35.1
(2/)
Physics:
Educational institution ••
G o v e r n m e n t .... . .........
Private industry ........ .
F o u n d a t i o n ........... .
109
4
19
4
100.0
(2/)
100.0
(2/)
77.1
(2/)
47.4
(2/)
9.2
(2/)
5.2
(2/)
47 »A
(2/)
(2/)
Biology:
Educational institution ..
Government ...............
Private industry .........
Foundation ................
207
52
10
7
100.0
100.0
100.0
(2/)
72.0
46.2
21.2
48.1
10.0
(2/)
3.4
1.9
30.0
(2/)
6 0 .0
(2/)
♦4-
10.5
1 .4
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
0*3
—
—
(2/)
(£ /)
2.7
(2/)
—
(2/)
—
(2/)
(2/)
(2/)
.5
2.9
3.8
__
—
—
_,
(2/)
(2/)
(2/)
—
—
—
—
—
1/ Excludes 151 scientists not reporting type of employer on either first or second job, and 56 for whom only
one job was recorded.
2/ Number too small to warrant computing percentages.
Table 23.— Types of employers for whom scientists worked on third job in study compared
with type of employer on fourth job
Field of highest competence
and type of employer on
third job
Total
number
reporting
1/
Percent employed on fourth job by All types
of
employer
Educational
institution
Government
Private
industry
All fields:
Educational institution ..
G o v e r n m e n t ...............
Private i n d u s t r y .........
Foundation ...............
299
132
186
11
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
70.9
31.8
17.7
36.4
8.7
46.2
6.5
9.1
18.0
19.7
68.3
18.1
Chemistry:
Educational institution •»
G o v e r n m e n t ...............
Private industry .........
Foundation ................
115
a
147
6
100.0
100.0
100.0
a /)
61.7
19.5
11.6
(2/)
6.1
51.2
5.5
(2/)
28.7
29.3
76.2
(2/)
Physics:
Educational institution ..
Government ................
Private industry ••.••••••
Foundation ...............
74
u
23
1
100.0
100.0
100.0
(2/)
79.7
57.1
47.8
(2/)
5.4
21.4
4.4
(2/)
12.2
14.3
39.1
(2/)
Biology:
Educational institution .•
Government ...............
Private industry .........
Foundation .•••••.........
110
77
16
4
100.0
100.0
100.0
(2/)
74.6
33.8
31.3
(2/)
13.6
48.0
18.8
(2/)
10.9
15.6
37.5
(2/)
1/
2/
U
Excludes scientists who held fewer than
jobs.
Number too small to warrant computing percentages.
Independent
consultant
Selfemployed
Founda
tion
..
0.7
.8
2.1
—
—
—
1.7
1.5
2.7
36.4
—
_
3 .5
—
...
2 .0
(2/)
2.7
7.2
2.7
2 .0
2.7
<2/)
(2/)
_
..
_
__
__
8 .7
(2/)
(2/)
(2/)
.9
2.6
—
..
_
_
6.2
(2/)
6.2
(2/)
_
(2/)
- 45 -
GEOGRAPHIC MOBILITY
The remainder of this report
deals with the kind of mobility most
often studied; namely, movement from
one part of the country to another.
The analysis covers not only scien
tists’ migration in the course of
their employment but also their
movements between States and regions
in connection with their education,
and the net effect of these movements
on the scientists’ geographic dis
tribution. In this analysis, it has
been possible to supplement the in
formation for the sample group of
scientists with certain data for all
Ph.D. chemists, biologists, and phys
icists included in the Biographical
Directory of American Men of Science.
Geographic Movement as
Students
The concentration of graduate
education in a relatively small num
ber of universities and the correla
tive tendency for students to change
schools on entering graduate studies
is well known. At least among sci
ence students, however, movement for
graduate work seems to go far beyond
the limitations imposed by the avail
ability of satisfactory facilities
for advanced study.
Even those
students taking their baccalaureates
in States with outstanding universi
ties often journey to other States
for graduate work.
More than 60 percent of the
approximately 12,000 chemists, phys
icists, and biologists with Ph.D.
degrees included in Bulletin 1027
obtained their bachelor’s and doc
tor’s degrees in different States
(table 24).
There were only 5
States (California, Illinois,
Maryland, New York, and Wisconsin)
which retained as graduate students
more than half the scientists
granted bachelor’s degrees within
their boundaries. The States which
lost the majority of their newly
created bachelors of science in
cluded such centers of education as
Massachusetts, Minnesota, Pennsyl
vania, Iowa, and Michigan. The pro
portion of students going to other
States for graduate study was high
est, however, for the parts of the
country with limited facilities for
graduate work. Twenty-four States,
20 of them in either the South or
the Mountain-Plains regions, saw at
least four-fifths of the scientists
granted B.S.'s by their institutions
leave for advanced study elsewhere.
In most cases, the students who
changed schools between their bac
calaureate and their doctorate moved
to an entirely different section of
the country for graduate work. More
than half the 12,000 scientists sur
veyed obtained their bachelor's and
doctor's degrees in different re
gions. As in the case of interstate
movements, the proportion who trans
ferred across regional lines was
highest among those students who did
their undergraduate work in sections
of the country without extensive fa
cilities for advanced study in the*
sciences.
Less than 30 percent of
the men with baccalaureates from
-
A6 -
Table 2 4 -—Percent of s c ie n t is t s who received P h .D .'s in same S tate as b ach elor's degree,
and percent cu rren tly employed in S tate o f b ach elor's degree 1 /
State of bachelor's degree
United States .............................
Number of
s c ie n tis ts
reporting
Percent who received
doctor's degree in
State o f bachelor's
degree 2]
Percent currently
employed in State
of bachelor's
degree 2 /
2 / 12,198
38.6
23.0
_
19.3
21.4
13.2
53.6
18.2
13.2
—
22.7
20.0
6 .9
21.8
15.8
11.3
11.2
11.7
31.2
7.6
20.1
20.5
21.2
Alabama ...................................................
Arizona ...................................................
Arkansas .................................................
C alifornia ............................................
Colorado .................................................
C on n ecticu t................................. ..
Delaware ............................... .................
Florida ...................................................
Georgia ...................................................
Id a h o .......................................................
57
28
76
685
154
257
7
75
120
58
I llin o is ..........................................
Indiana ...................................................
Iowa ..........................................................
K ansas............................................ ..
K entucky.................................................
Louisiana ...............................................
M aine.......................................................
M aryland.................................................
Massachusetts ......................................
Michigan .................................................
980
506
400
312
103
61
105
229
777
506
M innesota..............................................
M is s is s ip p i......... ................................
Missouri .................................................
Montana ...................................................
Nebraska .................................................
Nevada .......................................... .........
New Hampshire.....................................
New Jersey .................................
New Mexico ............................................
New Y ork ......... .......................................
North Carolina ....................................
North Dakota ........................................
Ohio .........................................................
Oklahoma .......................................... ..
Oregon .....................................................
Pennsylvania ........................................
Rhode Island ........................................
South C a ro lin a .............................
South D akota........... ............................
Tennessee ................................. ............
Texas .......................................................
U ta h ................................................ ..
Vermont ...................................................
Virginia .................................................
Washington ............................... ..
Wbst V irginia ......................
Wisconsin ...................................
Wyoming ................................. .................
D istrict o f Columbia ......................
405
74
268
90
213
4
139
171
18
1,165
159
50
930
92
154
855
124
102
96
104
248
175
46
190
212
99
426
18
75
—
1.3
66.6
18.8
48.3
—
29.3
4 .2
53.4
28.1
43.5
19.2
1.0
11.5
1 .0
57.6
43.9
42.9
45.7
—
27.2
22.1
—
-—
45.6
—
58.5
—
40-9
2 .0
42.9
4 .4
8 *4
40.9
32.3
—
—
15.4
33.9
1.1
2.2
34.7
36.8
13.1
16.5
18.9
12.7
8 .9
10.3
(V)
7 .9
26.3
(*/)
38.2
22.6
4.0
60.1
22.9
17.4
15.6
32.5
5.7
17.7
3.1
16.4
33.1
25.7
8 .7
17.4
16.5
23.2
18.1
24.0
21.3
—
(V)
1 / Based on ch em ists, p h y sic is ts , and b io lo g is ts w ith Ph.D. degree included in
B u lletin No. 1027, D. S. Department o f Labor.
2 / The percentages in columns 2 and 3 in each case were based on the number o f scien
t i s t s who received a b ach elor's degree in each S ta te. Those cu rren tly employed in each S tate
did not n e c e ssa r ily receive a doctorate in th a t S ta te.
3 / Excludes 542 s c ie n t is t s who received b ach elor's degrees or eq u iv alen t in foreign
countries and 457 who did not report S tate o f b ach elor's degree.
ij
Number too sm all to warrant computing p ercentages.
- 47 southern schools received their doc
torates in the South, and the cor
responding figure for graduates of
colleges in the Mountain-Plains
States was still lower (table 25).
However, three-fourths of the men
who earned bachelor's degrees in the
North Central States obtained their
doctorates in that region.
Even those States attracting
the largest number of graduate stu
dents from other parts of the country
lost young scientists to educational
institutions outside their borders.
New York institutions attracted more
scientists with baccalaureates earned
elsewhere than did those of any other
State, according to figures for the
small sample of 1 ,1 2 2 biologists,
chemistsj and physicists with Ph.D.
degrees. Men came from as far away
Table 25.— Percent of scientists receiving Ph.D.
in same region as bachelor's degree, by region 1/
Percent re*
ceiving Ph.D.
in region of
bachelor's
degree
Region of
bachelor's
degree
Number of
scientists
reporting
Tkiited S t a t e s ....
2/ 12,072
55.8
1,417
2,468
1,553
4,123
1,477
1,034
48.3
68.1
28.7
74.0
19.0
57.7
New E n g l a n d ......
Middle Xtlantic ...
South ...4....... .
North C e n t r a l ....
Mountain-Plains ...
Pacific ..........
1/ The data for all Ph.D. chemists, biologists, and physicists is based on Bulletin
No. 1027, 0. S. Department of Labor.
2/ Excludes 668 scientists who received
baccalaureates or doctorates in foreign countries
and 457 who did not report State of bachelor's
degree.
as Texas and California to do grad
uate work in New York, but more than
one-third of the New York college
graduates went elsewhere for their
doctorates (table E, p. 6 0 )• Illinois
was next to New York in the number
of scientists who earned their doc
torates in that State though they
had obtained their bachelor’s de
grees elsewhere.
Nevertheless,
close to half of the men in the sam
ple who were awarded bachelor’s de
grees from Illinois colleges re
ceived their doctor's degrees in
other parts of the country.
It seems reasonable to suppose
that the desire to see the world
played some part in the exodus of
these young men for graduate study.
Only a minority of the students who
left the State where they had earned
their baccalaureates received their
doctorates in nearby States. Of the
26 who left Illinois, only 10 ob
tained their doctorates from univer
sities in contiguous States. Of the
27 who left New York, only 6 earned
their degrees in adjacent States.
Conversely, only a third of the stu
dents who earned doctorates in
Illinois after taking bachelor’s de
grees elsewhere had received these
first degrees in nearby States. Col
lege graduates from Massachusetts,
Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, New Jer
sey, and Connecticut, formed only
about a fourth of the men in the
sample who had earned doctor's but
not bachelor’s degrees in New York
(table E, p. 6o)*
Migration as Employees
A relatively high degree of
geographic movement is characteristic
of professional personnel in general.
The 1940 Census showed., for example,
- 4S -
that one out of every four profes
sional and semiprofessional men,
compared to only one out of seven
employed men in the country, had
changed his State of residence be
tween 1935 and 194-0.
The data on
the number of States in which the
men in the sample group for this
study had been employed suggests
that Ph.D. scientists are even more
mobile than the average professional
man. 27/ More than 80 percent of
these scientists had moved across
State lines at least once in the
course of the jobs studied, and
more than 4-0 percent had worked in
three or more States (table 26).
27/ Exactly comparable data are not available for either professional
personnel or the population as a whole. However, in a study of manual
workers of a New England city it was found that 76 percent of those for whom
histories had been taken had never been employed outside of the State where
they were currently working. See The Structure of Labor Markets, by Lloyd
G. Reynolds. New York, Harper & Brothers, 1951. p. 37.
Table 26.— Number of States in which scientists worked
on jobs included in study
Percent of scientists
Field of highest
competence and
number of jobs
Total
number
reporting
Total
Who 1rorked in designated
numbe>r of States on jobs
inclAided in the study
One
Three
Four
Two
All fields ........
1,122
1 0 0 .0
17.6
job ...........
jobs .........
jobs .........
jobs .........
56
197
255
6 14
1 0 0 .0
1 0 0 .0
1 0 0 .0
1 0 0 .0
100.0
32.0
14.5
6.7
68.0
45.9
30.9
—
—
*39.6
40*4
—
22.0
Chemistry .........
616
1 0 0 .0
21.3
4 1 .6
28.2
8.9
42
122
151
301
1 0 0 .0
1 0 0 .0
1 0 0 .0
1 0 0 .0
100.0
33.6
1 4 .6
8.6
—
6 6 .4
4 4 .4
3 5 .9
41.0
37.2
18.3
166
1 0 0 .0
10.2
38.6
34.3
16.9
—
—
—
—
1
2
3
4
1
2
3
4
job ...........
jobs .........
jobs .........
j o b s ...... .
Physics.... ......
1 j o b ..........
2 jobs ••••••••.,
3
jobs .........
4 jobs .........
Biology ............
1 j o b ..........
2
3
jobs ..........
jobs .........
4 jobs .........
1/
39.3
—
31.1
—
—
—
12.0
—
__
—
—
3
26
29
108
Q/)
(i/)
—
1 0 0 .0
1 0 0 .0
1 0 0 .0
23.1
6.9
5.6
76.9
48.3
27.8
44*8
40.7
25.9
340
1 0 0 .0
14*4
35.6
34.7
15.3
(1/)
—
—
32.7
17.3
4.4
67.3
48.0
25.4
—
—
11
49
75
205
Q/>
1 0 0 .0
1 0 0 .0
1 0 0 .0
Number too small to warrant computing percentages.
34.7
44.9
—
—
—
25.3
- 49 _
There are several reasons for
this high geographic mobility.
The
labor market for scientists is na
tional rather than local, and scien
tists* positions are usually secired
through university and professional
contacts rather than through friends,
relatives, or local employment serv
ices.
It may be also that people
who leave their home communities to
attend schools in other parts of the
country have less psychological
resistance to further movement in
connection with their employment than
people who receive all their school
ing in their home towns. It is also
true that the professional advance
ment of educators is in some degree
dependent on their willingness to
transfer between universities.
In
the present study, the chemists, who
worked in private industry, in the
majority of cases,were somewhat less
mobile than the other scientists, who
were most often employed in educa
tional institutions.
Although figures are not avail
able on the relative mobility of
scientists in different age groups,
the study suggests that the-younger
men had a greater tendency toward
geographic mobility than the older
men. It will be recalled that the
median age of the men for whom only
two jobs were recorded was 37 years,
compared with 4.0 years for those who
had held at least four positions.
More than two-thirds of the scien
tists who had held only two jobs mi
grated into a different State when
they entered their second position.
The proportion of scientists migrat
ing each time they changed jobs
declined as the number of jobs
increased. Only 4-0 percent of the
scientists for whom three jobs were
recorded worked in a different State
on each of these positions.
Only
22 percent of the group who had had
four jobs had worked in four differ
ent States (table 26).
At all age levels, however,these
scientists had a much higher rate
of geographic mobility than the
general population. Furthermore, an
examination of the schedules indi
cated that most of these movements
across State lines represented move
ments of at least several hundred
miles. The high geographic mobility
of the scientist suggests that the
location of research or development
projects in areas away from the
greater centers of population, where
most scientists live and work, need
not be a barrier to the recruitment
of qualified scientists, particular
ly Ph.D.'s. Apparently, for a sci
entist, the nature of the job and
the salary it offers will usually
outweigh the advantages or disad
vantages of its location.
Comparison of Stato of Employmont with Stato of Education
Most scientists begin their
careers in States where they have
received at least part of their
education. Two-thirds of those in
the small sample began their first
professional careers in the State
where they had been awarded either
their baccalaureate or doctorate
(table 27). The men generally mi
grated at least once in the course
of their careers, and fewer than a
third (30 percent) were working in
the State of either their bachelor's
or doctor's degree at the time of
the survey.
Table 27.— Comparison of State of first professional Job and current employment
with State of bachelor's and doctor's degrees
Percent of scientists employed in—
Field of highest
competence
Number of
scientists
reporting
Same State as
that of either
bachelor1s or
doctor’s degree
Different State
* from that of ei
ther bachelor’s or
doctor’s degree
First professional job
All fields ...............
Chemistry ............
Physics .............
Biology .............
1/ 1,026
67.4
32.6
569
150
307
66 >4
66.7
69.4
33.6
33.3
30.6
Current employment
(194#)
All fields .............. .
2/ 1,004
30.5
69-5
Chemistry ...........
P h y s i c s ......... ....
B i o l o g y ........ .....
539
150
315
29-4
33.8
30.7
70.6
66.2
69.3
1/ Excludes 26 scientists who did not report State of bachelor's
did not report State of Ph.D., 17 who reported neither, and 28 who did
of first job.
Excludes 23 scientists who did not report State of bachelor's
did not report State of Ph.D., 16 who reported neither,and 56 for whom
recorded, which was coded as the first job.
7j
The proportion of scientists
currently employed in the State in
which they received their bachelor's
degree was only 23 percent, for all
Ph.D. biologists, chemists, and phys
icists included in Bulletin No. 1027.
California, which had retained more
than half the scientists granted
bachelor's degrees by its colleges,
was the leading State in this re
spect. Four other States (Louisiana,
New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas),
currently employed more than 30 per
cent of the men who had earned bach
elor's degrees in the given State.
At the low end of the scale were 15
States which had retained less than
15 percent of their bachelors of
science. Most of these States were
in the Mountain-Plains region or in
New England (table 24).
degree, 25 who
not report State
degree, 23 who
only one job was
The fact that a scientist takes
his doctorate in the same State as
his baccalaureate is not evidence
that he will continue to live and
work there. For example,
threefifths of the men who were graduated
from colleges in Wisconsin obtained
doctorates in that State,- but fewer
than a fifth who received bachelor's
degrees in that State were currently
employed there. On the other hand,
some of the States which witnessed
a great exodus of students for grad
uate study later regained them.
Less than 5 percent of the scien
tists who received their bachelor’s
degrees from Georgia colleges took
their doctorates in that State, but
a fifth were currently employed
there.
- 51 -
S ta te a n d R e g io n a l G a in s
The movement of scientists across
State boundaries, for either grad
uate training or employment is by no
means all in one direction. In each
State the gains and losses offset
each other in some measure. Hence,it
is necessary to align the States in
terms of net loss and net gains in
personnel, if an answer is to be
provided to the much-discussed ques
tion. Are professionally trained
men being drained off from certain
sections of the country?
tists). This comparison showed pro
nounced gains for two sections of
the country— the Middle Atlantic and
the North Central States— and sharp
losses for the South and the MountainPlains regions (table 28). Quite a
different picture was disclosed when
the number of bachelor's degrees
granted in each region was compared
with the number of scientists cur
rently employed there. More scien
tists were employed in the South than
had received bachelor's degrees from
Southern schools. Fewer scientists
were employed in North Central States
than had received bachelor's degrees
from North Central colleges.
In order to answer this question,
an analysis was made of the number
of scientists who received bachelor's
degrees in the different regions
with the number who received .doctor's
degrees (for the entire 12,000 scien
Regional comparisons obscure
differences among States.On the basis
of losses and gains between the num
bers of scientists educated and cur
rently employed within their bounda
ries, the 48 States can be divided
an d L o sse s
Table 28.— Number of scientists granted bachelor's or doctor's degrees
or currently employed in each region 1/
Region
New England ............
Middle Atlantic...... .
South ................ .
North Central ..........
Mountain-Plains....... .
Pacific ........4.......
Number
granted
bachelor's
degrees
1,448
2,502
1,560
4, 153
1,484
1,051
Number
granted
Ph.D.
degrees
1,431
3,599
632
5,328
477
1,085
Number
currently
employed
947
5,063
1,854
3,083
816
1,350
1/ Based on chemists, physicists, and biologists with Ph.D. degree
included in Bulletin No. 1027, U. S. Department of Labor.
- 52 into four groups (table 29)*
The
first category includes those States
where the number of scientists em
ployed was greater than the number
who had been awarded doctorates, and
the latter figure in turn exceeded
the number who had received
their
baccalaureates in the given State.
The Middle Atlantic States, except
Delaware and Pennsylvania, fall with
in this category (Group I), as do
California, Connecticut, and North
Carolina.
Table 29*— Number of scientists granted a bachelor's or doctor's
degree or currently
employed in each State (L948) 1/
State
Number
Number Number
granted
b a c h e l o r ^ granted currently
Ph.D. employed
degree
State
Number
granted
Number
Number
bachelor1s granted currently
degree
employed
Ph.D.
Group III
Group I
Connecticut......
New York ........
New Jersey ......
Maryland ........
District of
Columbia a •....
North Carolina »•
California .....
257
1,165
171
229
430
1,841
306
594
262
1,854
898
466
75
159
685
145
210
359
182
1,050
Massachusetts
Illinois ....
Wisconsin • • • •
Minnesota ....
Iowa 11 r» 1 1 »? t
882
1,673
857
471
667
495
895
287
105
139
46
124
930
506
506
268
50
96
213
312
102
103
74
76
90
58
18
154
175
212
154
3
56
47
36
'51
702
340
468
224
28
25
67
111
58
90
48
50
42
29
17
89
78
189
111
922
M aine ........
New Hampshire+
V erm on t ......
Rhode Island..
O h i o ....... .
I n d ia n a
855
7
190
99
120
75
104
57
61
92
248
18
28
4
713
—
132
21
8
27
45
1
*0
11
130
5
—
1,032
454
197
103
129
153
209
93
128
147
267
59
38
9
......
Michigan ....
Missouri ....
North Dakota. •
South Dakota..
Nebraska •••••
ITo n c<o c*
South Carolina
Kentucky •••••
Mississippi . .
Arkansas .....
llillt 4 ftM fi
Idaho ........
Wvomini? ......
Colorado .....
Utah .........
Washington •••
Ofecrnn . ......
1
115
783
373
504
197
2
1
109
89
1
3
3
70
/
131
32
------ — <c--------1/ Based on chemists, physicists, and biologists with Ph.D. degree included in
Bulletin No. 1027, 0. S. Department of Inbor.
229
162
Group IV
Group II
Pennsylvania . • . .
Delaware •••••••.
Virginia .......
West Virginia . • .
Georgia .........
Florida .........
Tennessee • • • • • ..
Alabama .........
Louisiana •••••••
Oklahoma ........
T e x a s .... .. .....
New M e x i c o .....
Arizona .........
Nevada .... ....
777
980
426
405
400
- 53 In Group II, the number of sci
entists currently employed also ex
ceeded the number granted baccalau
reates. In these States, however,
the number awarded Ph.D.'s was small
er than the number awarded B.S.'s.
Most of the States in this category
are in the South— Virginia, West
Virginia, Georgia, Tennessee, Ala
bama, Florida, Louisiana, Oklahoma,
and Texas. This group also includes
a few of the Mountain-Plains States—
Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico; and
two Middle Atlantic States— Pennsyl
vania, and Delaware. The Southern
States in this category granted
bachelor's degrees to 1,046 of these
scientists and doctor's degrees to
415, a decrease of 60 percent. How
ever, 1,426 scientists were employed
in these Southern States, an in
crease of 36 percent over the number
receiving bachelor's degrees there.
The category with the fewest
States was Group III. In the five
States in this group, more scien
tists were awarded Ph.D.'s than
baccalaureates, but the number of
scientists currently employed was
smaller than the number granted
bachelor•s degree s. Four of the se
States— (Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota,
and Wisconsin) are in the Middle
West, and for three of the four there
was a sharp drop between the number
of scientists educated and the num
ber currently employed. Over twelve
hundred (1,231) of the scientists
were granted their bachelor’s degrees
in Minnesota, Iowa, or Wisconsin, and
close to two thousand (1,995) earned
their doctorates in these States, but
only 678 were employed there in 1948.
The fifth State in the group, Massa
chusetts, showed a similar loss be
tween the number of scientists edu
cated and the number employed.
In the fourth and largest cate
gory of States, the number of scien
tists granted bachelor's degrees ex
ceeded both the number- currently em
ployed and the number granted doc
torates. Most of the Mountain-Plains
and New England States come within
this category, as do the North Pacific
States, a few Mid-Western States,and
a small group of Southern States.
Few Southern States, however, fell
in Group IV. As was pointed out
previously, the South as a whole, ac
tually experienced an increase in
the number of scientists granted
bachelor's degrees as compared with
the numbers currently employed. This
makes it clear that the tendency for
the graduates of Southern colleges to
go to Northern schools for graduate
work need not be a cause of concern
in the South. Not all the native
sons return, but recruits from other
sections of the country more them
make up the loss.
- 54 -
APPENDIX
The list of specialties used in
coding the scientists jobs and sub
jects of study included more than 60
specific and/or general fields. The
analysis indicated, however,
that
some of these fields were not appli
cable. The following are the fields
in which at least some the scientists
had worked in the jobs covered by the
study, or had majored in for either
a bachelor's or a doctor's degree.
The specific fields of specialization
are listed under the general fields
of which they are a part.
Chemistry
General
Inorganic
Organic
Physical
Analytical
Biochemistry
Metallurgy
Physics
Electronics
Biology
General
Bacteriology
Botany
Entomology
Zoology
Agriculture
Medicine
Opthalmology
Public health
Radiology
Fields related to medicine
Nutrition and foods
Anatomy
Pathology
Physiology
Pharmacy
Pharmacology
Veterinary medicine
Engineering
Civil
Chemical
Aeronautical
Electrical
Mechanical
Ordnance
Power plant
Earth sciences
Geology
Geophysics
Meteorology
Mathematics
Astronomy
General science
Military applications of science
Logistics
Intelligence
Special operations
Nonscientific fields
Architecture
Business administration
Liberal arts
Manpower resources and planning
Other non-scientific fields
- 55 T able A .— S p e c if ic f i e l d s o f s p e c ia lis a t io n in w hich s c i e n t i s t s c u r r e n tly em ployed in
c h e m istr y , p h y s ic s , and b io lo g y , worked on a l l t h e ir jo b s in clu d ed in th e stu d y
Fields of
specialization
for studied jobs
Chemistry
All
branches
General
Chemistryi
General ............
Inorganic ..........
Organic •••••••....
Physical • •.........
B i o c h e m i s t r y .......
Analytical .........
28.9
15.0
9.7
6.1
6 9 .6
3 .0
8 .2
5 .0
1 .7
5 .0
Physics •••...........
.9
.8
Biology:
General ••..........
Bacteriology .......
Botany .......... .
Entomology
Zoology ............
Medicine and
related fields:
Nutrition and foods.
Anatomy
Physiology .........
P a t h o l o g y ..........
Pharmacology .......
Pharmacy ••»«»*•<«»•
Public health ......
Ophthalmology ......
Engineering:
Chemical
Civil ............ .
Electrical
Mechanical .........
O r d n a n c e ....... • • •.
Earth sciences:
Geophysics
Geology ............
Other scientific fields:
Agriculture ••••••••
Mathematics ••••••••
Metallurgy ....... ...
Electronics »»•«••».
General science ...•
29.0
4.6
.3
.6
.5
20.0
6 4 .O
5.3
—
—
5.3
.1
—
—
.1
.1
.1
—
—
—
.
.9
.1
.1
—
—
.5
—
—
—
—
.3
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
.2
.2
—
—
—
—
-—
—
—
—
—
—
.1
—
.5
—
—
—
In
organic
.
.3
—
—
17.0
1.6
74.0
1.3
1.1
1.8
—
•2
.3
Phys
ical
18.4
2.4
2.1
65.9
—
1 3 .0
24.5
2.9
2.0
1.0
2.4
69.7
2.2
59.8
3.0
1.3
—
—
—
1 .0
1 .0
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
•3
—
—
—
•3
—
—
—
—
.7
.2
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
2.9
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
1.7
1 .0
—
.2
.2
•4
—
—
—
—
2.7
—
—
Analyt
ical
♦4
3.5
—
2.4
.3
—
—
—
—
—
Biochem
istry
.4
3.5
3.1
—
—
—
—
--
—
Organic
.3
.5
.1
1-3
.2
—
—
—
—
1.5
2.8
2.7
1.2
.8
Nonscientific fields^.
.4
.4
.2
.3
.8
1 .0
T o t a l ...........
1 0 0 .0
10 0 .0
10 0 .0
1 0 0 .0
10 0 .0
10 0 .0
100.0
400
74
633
368
230
101
Total number of jobs..
1,8 0 6
—
—
1.1
.3
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
2 .9
- 56 T able A .— S p e c ific f i e l d s o f s p e c ia liz a t io n in w hich s c i e n t i s t s c u r r e n tly em ployed in
ch e m istr y , p ly s ic s , and b io lo g y , worked on a l l t h e ir jobs in c lu d e d in th e stu d y — Con.
Fields of
specialization
for studied jobs
Chemistry:
General ........ «...
Inorganic ..........
O r g a n i c ............
P h y s i c a l .......• • • •
B i o c h e m i s t r y .......
Analytical • ...... ..
Chemistry
All
branches
1.0
.2
.4
2.4
.A
General
•6
—
—
—
In
organic
—
—
—
—
1.9
—
—
—
.2
.4
.3
•4
*4
Physics ..............
8^.8
.3
1.2
Biology:
General ............
Bacteriology .......
Botany •••••••......
Entomology
Zoology ............
•6
—
—
—
21.0
12.1
30.3
13.7
14.6
58.5
2.4
8.5
4*4
14.5
Medicine and
related fields:
Nutrition and foods.
A n a t o m y ............
Physiology .........
P a t h o l o g y .......
Pharmacology .......
Pharmacy
Public health ......
O p h t h a l m o l o g y .... .
.6
—
—
.1
.1
•4
—
—
—
—
—
—
.4
1.9
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
2.5
•4
Engineering:
Chemical ......... .
Civil ..............
Electrical .........
Mechanical .........
Ordnance ...........
1.4
.2
.6
Barth sciences:
G e o p h y s i c s ........ .
Geology ............
•4
—
—
.1
—
2.1
.1
—
—
—
2.3
4.9
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
.6
.7
Analyt
ical
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
.6
7.8
.3
84.6
.3
.6
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
1.6
—
—
2.5
—
11.5
.8
2.3
3.9
73.1
—
—
.7
—
—
—
—
—
—
5.9
2.0
2.0
79.5
5.9
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
Biochem
istry
—
—
—
—
.6
.4
Phys
ical
—
12.0
69.8
4.4
.6
3.8
—
—
.1
•4
.1
—
—
Organic
.7
—
—
—
—
1.5
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
_
—
—
3.4
.3
—
—
1.3
—
—
_
—
—
—
—
—
.6
1.3
5.4
—
.6
—
1.5
—
.3
Other scientific fields:
Agriculture ........
Mathematics ........
Metallurgy • ........
E l e c t r o n i c s ..... ..
General science ••••
1.0
-T2.0
2.4
Nonscientific f i el d s••
1.4
•9
2.0
Total .......... .
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
Total number of jobs..
499
1,009
247
158
322
152
130
Table B.— Comparison of major subjects for doctorfs and bachelor^ degrees
Major s u b je c t
fo r Ph.D .
A ll f i e l d s • • • •
C h e m istr y ...........
P h y sics . . . . . • *
B io log y ................
M edicine and
r e la te d fie ld s .
E n gin eerin g . . .
Earth s c ie n c e s .
A g ricu ltu re . . .
M athem atics . . .
M etallu rgy • • • •
G eneral
s c ie n c e . . . . . .
Number o f
T otal
number
M edicine
re
Phys B io l and re
Chem
p o rt is t r y ic s
la te d
ogy
in g
fie ld s
lA , 0 6 0
5H
569
HO
309
486
5
16
17
6-
—
2
in
239
5
108
—
—
223
—
7
—
—
3
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
1
3
—
—
—
—
1
—
1
——■*
—
4
10
2
3
6
—
—
s c ie n t is t s w ith b a c h e lo r ^ degree in —
B usi
ArA gri Math General n ess
Engi Earth
Lib c h in eer s c ie n c e s c u l emat sc ie n c e ad
er a l t e c in g
tu re
ic s
m in is a r ts ture
tr a tio n
13
54
2
7
—
1
2 /3 8
8
1
5
—
—
—
—
—
6
-—
—
1
1
1
—
—
—
—
57
25
22
1
18
1
A
1
AA
U
7
1
2
9
3
8
—
—
5
1
12
1
—
—
—
—
2
—
—
—
1
—
—,
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
3
—
1
A
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
1
1/ Excludes 20 scientists who did not report major subject for Ph.D., 33 who did hot report major subject for
bachelor1s degree, and 9 who reported neither.
2/ Thirty-six of the 38 b ac helor^ degrees in engineering were in chemical engineering.
Table C.—
Major subject
for
Ph.D. degree
Chemistry .......
Major subject for Ph.D., by specific field of highest competence
Chemistry
In
All
General
Organic
organic
brandies
Bio
Phys
Analyt
ical chem ical
istry
All
branches
95.9
100.0
97.5
97.6
98.2
General ......
Inorganic ....
Organic .......
Physical .....
Biochemistry ..
Analytical ....
30.3
56.0
21.1
A 2 .7
12.0
8.0
12.0
8.0
50.0
35.0
5.0
7.5
—
—
70.7
3.1
2.3
—
.6
50.6
1.2
3.1
Physics .........
.3
—
—
—
1.2
1.1
—
—
_
__
—
__
__
_____
——
—
—
—
1.5
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
Biology........ . •
General ......
Bacteriology ..
B o t a n y ...... .
Entomology ....
Zoology .......
3.2
32.9
16.9
8.7
3.9
.2
.2
.5
.2
4 .0
—
—
Biology
Physics
•A
—
.A
.A
.6
—
82.0
95.1
7.4
11.8
—
7.5
3.0
59.7
--
34.2
7.3
7.3
4.9
2.4
39.0
2.3
—
—
.6
1.5
__
__
__
__
3.7
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
98.1
97.9
—
—
—
3.7
—
—
—
.9
1.5
,
—
—
—
—
—
88.4
.6
2.9
6.0
—
.6
92.3
88.3
90.8
90.3
11.6
11.9
33.2
16.3
33-3
4.3
18.8
2.9
5.6
64.8
5.6
4.4
—
85.0
—
—
—
.6
19.3
29.0
—
—
—
.8
—
9.0
2.5
—
2.3
5.8
—
—
.8
—
—
—
1.8
—
—
—
Earth sciences ..
.2
—
—
1.5
—
Agriculture .....
.5
—
Other sciences ..
.2
Engineering ....
Total
......
Total number
reporting ....
1/
100.0
1/ 593'
100.0
25
—
—
.9
—
1.5
1.5
2.4
—
2.1
—
1.8
—
—
—
1.8
.3
—
—
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
a
163
337
69
—
.A
2.5
—
—
—
100.0
100.0
40
256
100.0 100.0
164-
67
—
14.8
1.5
.3
Medicine and
related fields.
.9
„
1.9
—
16.7
2.1
—
6.2
1.9 72.9
94.3
3.5
—
—
—
—
—
.9
4*4
.9
—
2.1
1.9
—
—
—
100.0
100.0
54
Excludes 23 chemists, 3 physicists, and 3 biologists not reporting major subject for Ph.D. degree.
—
—
7.4
—
A. 5
.6
5.1
—
1.5
Bacte
Ento
General riol Botany mol Zool
ogy
ogy
ogy
113
53
100.0
48
T a b l e D . — F u n c t i o n on first job b y c u r r e n t function, of s c i entists h a v i n g 3 o r 4 j obs in study
Current function
Function on first job
All
functions
Routine professional work ....
College teaching assistance ...
College teaching ......... .
Other teaching.............. .
R e s e a r c h ......... ....... .
Development.........
Design .................... .
Technical administration.....
Administration ...............
Consulting .............
Estimating and cost analysis ..
Sales, technical sales, and
services.......... .......
Editing and w r i t i n g .... .....
Technical writing ............
Extension work ...............
Wild life management ..........
O t h e r ..................... .
T o t a l ............ ......
Total number reporting...... .
College
teaching
8.5
32.8
19.9
7.1
24.8
2.4
.2
1.6
.2
—
.1
8.2
39.9
21.4
10.6
14.5
2.4
•4
.2
.2
.2
.5
.9
.3
.6
—
.3
.3
—.3
Research
9.7
29.4
16.4
5.1
32.3
1.7
.8
1.7
——
Technical
adminis
tration
9.5
27.0
22.2
3.7
29.7
2.1
—
3.2
.5
—
—
—
Other
8.2
18.4
32.6
4.1
32.6
_
—
4.1
——
—
—
3.0
36.4
9.1
9.1
27.3
7.6
——
1.5
—
.8
—
—
.4
—
.3
.3
.6
Adminis
tration
.5
—
—
•8
.5
1.1
—
3.0
3.0
—
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
1/ 873
331
238
189
49
66
1/
E x c l u d e s 24.3 scientists f o r w h o m o n l y 1 o r 2 J o b s w e r e recorded, a n d 6 who d i d n o t report
func t i o n on f i r s t Job.
60
Table E.— State of Ph.D., by State of bachelor's degree for scientists receiving Ph.D.
and bachelor'8 degrees in different States
—
—
35
—
10
—
3
-1
—
—
33
9
6
1
—
—
.19
24
22
9
—
9
—
2
—
7
—
48
3
40
—
1
29
1
1
1
7
—
—
—
—
3
4
1
24
—
5
3
10
19
10
11
1
5
2
10
4
26
25
21
24
2
3
11
8
19
30
20
10
25
9
12
16
10
1
27
11
5
54
7
10
45
8
18
10
8
9
17
4
11
13
12
18
1
id
1«
g
a
•(
j
’Pennsylvania
|
-Rhode
Island
j___________ ___________ J
|
|
|
]
]
■-p(0p
©
1o
<asd
n
4
[■ New Jersey
New York
North Carolina
1o
*
■po 5
t 3
£ 3
H
j
|
|j
;|
«
6
c
•©«
ne
r.
2
1
1
1
2
3
__
1
1
1
1
2
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1
2
1
3
1
1
-
1
- l 1 - 1
2
3 - - - 7 4 3
1 - 1 1 3
l 5 1 4
- l 1 1 1
- - 1 1 1
3
1
4
1
1
1
-
-
1
4
5
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__
5
7
3
1
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4 - - - - - 2
1 _ _ -
1
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-
l
l
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8
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-
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1
2 - 2
- - 1
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1 - 2 3
- - 1 3
1
4/
1
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1
_
1
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1
-
1
3
-
- 1 1 1- 3 2
- 1 l 6 1 2 - - 3 1 1- 1
1
2
1
1
1
-
4
Texas
[Virginia
| Missouri
_
1
_
1
1
•3
3.
Michigan
1
- 1 - - 1 - - - 2 2 1
1
- - - - 2 - 2 - - - 1 14 1 - - 3 - 1 - 2 1
l
1
2
1
1
1
3
2
3
1
n§
Maryland
§
■&H
e
£
Kansas
Wisconsin
Alabama •••*«••*
Arizona ...............
Arkansas .............
California .........
Colorado •••••• •
Connecticut ••••
Delaware .............
D istrict of
Columbia .........
Florida ...............
Georgia • • ...........
Idaho
I llin o is • * . . . . .
Indiana
Kansas •*••»•••»
Kentucky .............
Louisiana ...........
Maine *..«••••«.
Maryland .............
Massachusetts ..
Michigan .............
Minnesota ...........
M ississippi .*••
Missouri . . . . . . .
Montana . . . . . . . .
Nebraska .............
New Hampshire ..
New Jersey .........
New Mexico .........
New York .............
North Carolina••
North Dakota ••.
O h io ......................
Oklahoma •»•*.«•
Oregon . . . . . . . . .
Pennsylvania •••
Rhode Island . . .
South Carolina*.
South Dakota . . .
Tennessee ...........
Texas . . . . . . . . . .
Utah . . . . . . . . . . .
Vermont ...............
Virginia .............
Washington .........
West Virginia ..
Wisconsin ...........
Wyoming . . . . . . . .
ceiving
Ph.D.
in d if
ferent
State
from
bache
lo r 's
degree
'Indiana
State of
bachelor'8
degree
oeiving
Ph.D.
in same
State
as
bache
lo r 's
degree
State of Ph.D. for scientists receiving bachelor's and doctor's
degrees in different States
Number
C alifornia
.Colorado
[[Connecticut
Number
4
1
6
1
1
1
22 -
-
-
-
-
-
-
_
-
-
1- - - _
1
1
1
2 - 1 1 12 2
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
_
1
1
1
1
2
_ 3
1
1
- - 5 - 1 _ _ _ 1 1
2
- 1 - _ _ _ 3
2
1
_ 6
1 2 8 _ _
4 1 _
2
_ _ - _
1
1
1
- 2 12 1 5
- 1 1 1 1
1
2 1 2 2
2 1
3
1
1
2
1
1
2
1 1
1
2
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61 OCCUPATIONAL OUTLOOK ANP RELATED PUBLICATIONS
OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS *
Occupational Outlook Handbook: Employment Information on Major Occupa
tions for Use in Guidance. Bulletin No. 998 (1951 Revised Edition).
Illus. #3.
Includes brief reports on more than 400 occupations of interest
in vocational guidance, including professions; skilled trades; cleri
cal, sales, and service occupations; and the major types of farming.
Each report describes the employment trends and outlook, the training
qualifications required, earnings^ and working conditions. Introduc
tory sections summarize the majox trends in population and employment
and in the broad industrial and occupational groups, as background
for an understanding of the individual occupations.
The Handbook is designed for use in counseling, in classes or
units on occupations, in the training of counselors, and as a general
reference. Its 575 pages are illustrated with 103 photographs and
85 charts.
Scientific and Technical Occupations
Engineers,
Bulletin
E m p loyment O u t l o o k for
988 (1949)*
Illus. ... ........... ..... ......... 55 cents
Ear t h Scientists, Empl o y m e n t Out l o o k for
B u l l e t i n 1050 (1952).
I l l u s .................................... 30 cents
Technicians, E m p loyment Out l o o k for
Bulletin 1131 (1953)*
I l l u s ....... ....................... ..
In press
Ef f e c t o f Defense P r o g r a m on Employment O u t l o o k in En g i
n e e r i n g (Supplement to B ulletin 988, E m p loyment O u t l o o k
for Ehgineers) (1951) ...... ............. ................... 15 cents
Factors A f f e c t i n g Earnings in Chemistry a n d Chemical
Engineering
B u l l e tin 881 (1948) ............ ................. ......... 10 cents
Employment, Education, a n d Earnings o f Am e r i c a n M e n o f Science
B u l l e t i n 1027 (1951) ......................................45 cents
* Unless otherwise designated, these publications are for sale by the
Superintendent of Documents at prices indicated. How to order publications:
Address your order to the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing
Office, Washington 25, D. C., with remittance in check or money order.
Currency is sent at sender's risk. Postage stamps are not acceptable.
Please do not order items listed as "in press." If you wish, the Bureau of
Labor Statistics will notify you of their publication.
Those reports which are listed as free may be obtained directly from
the U. S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Washington 25,
D. C., as long as the supply lasts.
- 62 Scientific and Technical Occupations— Continued
Manpower Resources in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, 1951
Bulletin No. 1132 (1953)..................................
Employment, Education, and Income of Engineers, 1949-1950:
A Survey of Engineering Society Members of Full Profes
sional Grade (1953) ................... ...................
Industrial Research and Development* A Preliminary Report
(1953) ........................ ...........................
In press
Free
Free
Other Occupations and Industries
Electric Light and Power Occupations, Employment Outlook in
B ulletin 944 (1948).
U l u s . ...................................
Railroad Occupations, Employment Outlook in
Bulletin 9&1 (1949)* Ulus. .............................
Petroleum Production and Refining, Employment Outlook in
Bulletin 994 (1950).
U l u s . .......... ......... ...............
30 cents
30 cents
30 cents
M e n's Tai l o r e d Clothing Industry, E m p loyment O u t l o o k in
Bulletin 1010 (1951). Illus..............................
Department Stores, Employment Outlook in
Bulletin 1020 (1951).
I l l u s ...................................
25 cents
20 cents
Accounting, E m ployment Out l o o k in
Bulletin 1048 (1952). U l u s ............. ............. .
Merchant Marine, Employment Outlook in the
Bulletin 1054 (1952). U l u s ...................... ........
20 cents
30 cents
Electronics M a n u f a cturing Industry, E m p l o y m e n t O u t l o o k in the
Bulletin 1072 (1952). Illus. ..................... .......
Federal White Collar Workers* Occupations and Salaries,
June 1951
BuUetin 1117 (1952) .... ................. ..............
Printing Occupations, Employment Outlook in
Bulletin 1126 (1953). Reprinted from the 1951 Occupational
25 cents
Outlook Hand b o o k ................................................
Air Transportation, Employment Out l o o k in
25 cents
Bulletin 1128 (1953)* Illus. Reprinted from the 1951
Occupational Outlook Handbook......... ................. .
Mechanics and Repairmen, Employment Outlook for
Bulletin 1129 (1953). Illus. Reprinted from the 1951
Occupational Outlook Handbook ............................
Metalworking Occupations, Employment Outlook in
Bulletin 1130 (1953). Illus. Reprinted from the 1951
Occupational Outlook Handbook......... ,..................
Automobile Industry, Employment Outlook in the
(1953). Illus. .............................................. .
In press
In press
In press
In press
In press
- *3 Other Occupations a n d I n d u s t r i e s — C o n tinued
Effect of Defense Program on Employment Situation in
Elementary and Secondary School Teaching
(Supplement to Bulletin 972, Employment Outlook for
Elementary and Secondary School Teachers ) (1951) .......
Occupational Outlook Information Series (by States)
VA Pamphlet 7-2 (1947). (When ordering, specify State
or States desired) .................................. each
Employment and Economic Status of Older Hen and Women
Bulletin 1092 (May 1952) ...... ......... ...............
Negroes in the United States: Their Employment and
Economic Status
Bulletin 1119 (December 1952) ...........................
Mobility of Tool and Die Makers, 1940-1951
Bulletin 1120 (1952) .......... .........................
Employment Opportunities for Student personnel Workers in
Colleges and Universities (1951) ........................
Elementary and Secondary School Principalships: Chief Ad
vancement Opportunity for Public School Teachers (1951) ••
Employment Opportunities for Counselors in Secondary and
Elementary Schools (1951) ..... ......................... *
15 cents
10 cents
30 cents
30 cents
35 cents
free
Free
free
* U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1953 O - 247228
@FedFRASER