Useful Stats: Employed Doctoral Scientists & Engineers by State: 1997-1999

The National Science Foundation recently released the latest edition of Characteristics of Doctoral Scientists and Engineers in the United States, which reports characteristics for 1999. Valuable data is presented in the report on the demographic and employment characteristics of doctoral scientists and engineers in the US. The goal of the publications is to provide policymakers and researchers quality data in regards to the educational attainment and career patterns of doctoral scientists and engineers.

The National Science Foundation performs this survey biennially and is a longitudinal survey conducted since 1973. Current and past reports can be found online at http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/cdse/start.htm

SSTI has prepared a table comparing the percent change from 1997 to 1999 by employer location and broad occupation for doctoral scientists and engineers in the United States. Each state’s percent increase or decrease in employment for these individuals in various occupational categories is calculated. The states are ranked from highest to lowest in percent increase or decrease for overall employed doctoral scientists and engineers. Thirty-five states are increasing the number of total doctoral scientists and engineers in their regions while the other fifteen states’ numbers are decreasing. For all locations, the largest increase has been in computer and information scientists with a 26.17 percent increase. The slowest growing occupation for the nation is mathematical scientists at 1.29 percent. This data presents a unique geographic view of the spatial distribution of US doctoral scientists and engineers. View the table to see where your state stands in employment growth for doctoral scientists and engineers.

The SSTI employment table is available at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/092002t.htm

SSTI has also prepared a table concerning the median salary of these professionals by location. The table presents the percent change in each state’s median salary from 1997 to 1999 for doctoral scientists and engineers. Once again the states are ranked from highest to lowest in terms of percent increase for overall employed doctoral scientists and engineers. Each broad occupational category is provided as well. Only three states have median salaries that have decreased. (Note this data has not been adjusted for inflation.) From 1997 to 1999, median salary for all locations together has increased 7.69 percent with computer and information scientists leading the way with an increase of 11.11 percent. Mathematical scientists are experiencing the slowest growth of median salary across all regions at only 3.39 percent. This data can be of use to see where your state stacks up against the rest and against the nation as a whole in salary growth.

The SSTI median salary table is available at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/092002t2.htm