Does America Have a Scientist Shortage?

Does America Have a Scientist Shortage? - RF CafeNot according to Derek Lowe (aka 'The Contrarian'). In his October 2012 article that appeared in Discover magazine, Mr. Lowe cites the following statistics to support his assertion: Of 633e3 graduate-level students in science, engineering, and health fields in 2012, less than ¼ secure a tenure track academic job within 5 years of earning a Ph.D. Of 63e3 postdoc appointees in the same group, up 45% from 2000, many cannot find permanent employment. A 3% (doesn't seem like that much to me) decrease from 2006 to 2010 in federal non-defense R&D funding harms science-related job seekers. The overarching theme is that the problem is not a deficit of graduates, but a glut of high quality candidates for employers. He also published an article on the same topic earlier in the year titled, ".No, America Does NOT Need More Scientists and Engineers" It's a thing with him.

Posted November 2012