No Science Jobs for Graduates? (bachelors, PhD, skills, degrees)
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Europe is in a lot worse shape financially than the US is. I went to a mid-tier state university and all of my friends in biology found good jobs in their field. Actually my dad is a professor of neuroscience and he is absolutely dying for qualified American graduates. He keeps having to hire from overseas because there aren't enough qualified Americans willing/able to do the job. I didn't really know any physics majors so I can't comment on that one.
Good science jobs are very competitive, and bad science jobs suck. There is not a lot of middle ground. For every senior scientist or tenure track faculty job there are a dozen menial lab tech positions. There are not a whole lot of good mid-level positions for the good but not superstar BS graduate. A lot of science grads recognize that their math/analytical skills will pay off better in a different field.
Europe is in a lot worse shape financially than the US is. I went to a mid-tier state university and all of my friends in biology found good jobs in their field. Actually my dad is a professor of neuroscience and he is absolutely dying for qualified American graduates. He keeps having to hire from overseas because there aren't enough qualified Americans willing/able to do the job. I didn't really know any physics majors so I can't comment on that one.
Positions in academia other than tenure track professors are poor in both pay and growth prospects which is likely why he is unable to attract US citizens. I wouldn't take one either.
Academia from what I understand has unlimited h1-b's and companies and universities love them because they will work 16 hours a day 7 days a week for janitor wages because that is better than what is waiting for them back home and that is where they will be sent if they lose their job.
In my experience the best and brightest want nothing to do with science due to the poor pay and increasing instability of Science jobs. Many companies are only hiring science staff on contract and noone is going to stay as a contractor with no benefits and an agency stealing 1/2 your paycheck for more than a few years before they flee the field.
The chemical industry is in decline, the pharma industry has led the nation in layoffs for the past several years and the largest layoff announcement this year came from Merck-a pharma company. The food industry isn't a whole lot better. In short science is a tragic waste of potential for anyone with the intelligence to get the degree. The only place nowadays where a science career is viable is in the government as the private sector sees scientists as toilet paper-a cheap commodity to be used and discarded.
Here are the stats for chemistry grads. Only 30-40% have full time jobs and half of those have crappy tech jobs in academia at the BS/MS level and crappy post docs at the PHD level. Tech jobs range $25-35k and post docs $35-50k often without benefits and very little growth prospect as I mentioned.
In my experience the best and brightest want nothing to do with science due to the poor pay and increasing instability of Science jobs. Many companies are only hiring science staff on contract and noone is going to stay as a contractor with no benefits and an agency stealing 1/2 your paycheck for more than a few years before they flee the field.
The chemical industry is in decline, the pharma industry has led the nation in layoffs for the past several years and the largest layoff announcement this year came from Merck-a pharma company. The food industry isn't a whole lot better. In short science is a tragic waste of potential for anyone with the intelligence to get the degree. The only place nowadays where a science career is viable is in the government as the private sector sees scientists as toilet paper-a cheap commodity to be used and discarded.
To buttress your points, all one has to do is to look at the cuts that are going on at the NIH/NSF, the largest science granting organizations in the world. As the physics PH.D's/postdoc have told me, both of those institutions are cutting outlays. That should tell you the near/long term prognosis for the sciences, and it isn't at all good. Science doesn't exist without research money, less research money means far less needs for scientists. Ipso facto/ bada boom bada bing, follow the money, not the PR spin, and it will tell all of yass volumes.....
In my experience the best and brightest want nothing to do with science due to the poor pay and increasing instability of Science jobs. Many companies are only hiring science staff on contract and noone is going to stay as a contractor with no benefits and an agency stealing 1/2 your paycheck for more than a few years before they flee the field.
The chemical industry is in decline, the pharma industry has led the nation in layoffs for the past several years and the largest layoff announcement this year came from Merck-a pharma company. The food industry isn't a whole lot better. In short science is a tragic waste of potential for anyone with the intelligence to get the degree. The only place nowadays where a science career is viable is in the government as the private sector sees scientists as toilet paper-a cheap commodity to be used and discarded.
True, because big Pharma is outsourcing (via partnership agreements) their R&D to small biotech companies. Biotech industry in the US (and around the world) has continued to grow even in the down economy. Many science majors are joining private biotech companies these days and finding it quite lucrative.
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