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Salaries

What US chemists made before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the 2020 ACS salary survey

Overall salaries were flat for members, but some groups saw increases from 2019

by Andrea Widener
February 1, 2021 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 99, Issue 4

Credit: C&EN/Shutterstock

 

 
A bar graph showing salaries in a variety of chemical industries were flat in 2020 when compared with 2019
Overall, salaries were flat compared with 2019
A bar graph showing that, on average, chemical engineers made more than chemists in 2019 and 2020
Chemical engineers made more than chemists
A bar graph showing that in 2019 and 2020 men made more than women on average
Men made significantly more than women
A map showcasing how salaries varied by region and within regions by degree level.
Salaries continued to vary widely by region. In some cases, bachelor's degree recipients made more than those with a master's degree
Graph showing that salaries have increased since 1985 when viewed in current dollars.
Salaries have increased steadily since 1985 when viewed in current dollars
Note: Current dollars are the value in the year the salary was reported. Data are missing for 2017 and 2018 because of changes to the survey. For more explanation, see the 2019 salary report at cenm.ag/salarysurvey2019.
A graph showing that salaries when adjusted for inflation are nearly flat.
But salaries have been almost flat when adjusted for inflation
Note: Salaries were adjusted for inflation using 1985 as the base year. Data are missing for 2017 and 2018 because of changes to the survey. For more explanation, see the 2019 salary report at cenm.ag/salarysurvey2019.
Unemployment dropped between 2019 and 2020, before the pandemic hit
Unemployment for ACS members fell drastically in 2020 right before the pandemic started to affect the economy
Note: Numbers reflect employment status as of March 1 in the indicated year.
A bar chart showing that respondents with only a bachelor's degree had the highest rates of unemployment.
Unemployment was highest for ACS members with only a bachelor's degree
A bar chart indicating that, when broken down by race, Asian respondents earned the most on average, while Black/African American respondents earned the least.
Asian respondents earned the highest salaries
Note: Respondents could choose more than one race and could additionally denote their Hispanic/Latino identity in response to a separate question. Salaries for Native Americans and Pacific Islanders are not reported because of the small number of people who responded in those categories.
Pie chart indicating where respondents worked.
More respondents worked in academia than industry
Pie chart showing that a majority of respondents had their doctorate
Most respondents had a doctoral degree
A pie chart showing that the majority of respondents were men
Most respondents were men
A bar chart indicating that respondents were primarily white
Respondents were predominantly White
Note: Numbers do not add to 100% because respondents could choose more than one race and could additionally denote their Hispanic/Latino identity in response to a separate question.
The largest proportion of respondents were 45–54 years old, with an average age of 42.6
A pie chart showing the ages of respondents.
 

Like many events in 2020, the American Chemical Society salary survey was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Normally conducted in the spring, the survey collected data in June and July of last year. The data shown here reflect the median annual salaries for 4,565 ACS members under age 70 who work as full-time employees in the US. (ACS publishes C&EN.)

The most notable change from the 2019 survey is the drop in unemployment rate. The salary survey shows an unemployment rate of 1.5% for ACS members, who were asked to report their status as of March 1, 2020. That’s down more than a point from the 2019 rate and is the lowest rate in the past 20 years. Unemployment in some regions dropped to below 1%.

Why the big drop? C&EN asked ACS its thoughts about the change and what might be causing it.

To start, there’s the date: March 1 was before most people would have felt the economic effects of COVID-19. “I would point to the rise in the economy and how our economy’s been doing in general prior to the pandemic,” says Eric Bruton, a chemist at Boeing and chair of the ACS Committee on Economic and Professional Affairs (CEPA), which oversees the salary survey. He points in particular to growth in several chemical-related industries during late 2019 and early 2020. “Overall, it’s a nice positive.”

Steven Meyers, who oversees the salary survey as ACS’s senior director of member programming, says the low employment rate “is emblematic of a trend that we’ve been seeing since the end of the last recession” in 2008–9, reflecting more than 10 years of economic growth.

The drop in unemployment in the ACS survey data isn’t reflected in the US unemployment rate in March for people with at least a bachelor’s degree, which was up slightly from 2.0% in March 2019 to 2.5% in March 2020, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. ACS often uses this number to compare trends for ACS members with the larger economy.

But Meyers points out that the ACS salary survey “is not of the entire US economy. It’s not of global chemists. It’s not even of US chemists. It’s a measure of the membership.” The ACS survey unemployment rate doesn’t include students, members over 70, or international members, Meyers says. In addition, ACS members are more likely to have a PhD and work in academia than US bachelor’s degree recipients. Those groups tend to have better employment outcomes.

ACS calculated a margin of error of ±1.45 percentage points for the unemployment rate, which could put the real unemployment at almost 0 or up to 3%, Meyers says.

ACS expects to see ACS member unemployment increase in 2021 as a result of the pandemic. Bruton encourages unemployed ACS members to use services such as career counseling, webinars, and dues waivers for people experiencing hardship because of the pandemic.

Note for all data: Data are from 4,565 American Chemical Society members’ survey responses collected from June 1 to July 14, 2020, except when other years’ data are shown. Salaries reflect the median annual salaries on March 1 for full-time US employees who say their work specialty is chemistry, except for the comparison between chemists and chemical engineers, which includes data from full-time US employees who say their work specialty is chemical engineering. Numbers do not include students, members over 70, or international members.


 

Salary breakdown by demographics

 

Overall salaries were flat compared with 2019


Salaries have increased since 1985 when viewed in current dollars

Note: Current dollars are the value in the year the salary was reported. Data are missing for 2017 and 2018 because of changes to the survey. For more explanation see the 2019 salary report at cenm.ag/salarysurvey2019.


But salaries have been almost flat when adjusted for inflation

Note: Salaries were adjusted for inflation using 1985 as the base year. Data are missing for 2017 and 2018 because of changes to the survey. For more explanation see the 2019 salary report at cenm.ag/salarysurvey2019.


Chemical engineers made more than chemists


Men made significantly more than women


Asian respondents earned the highest salaries

Note: Respondents could choose more than one race and could additionally denote their Hispanic/Latino identity in response to a separate question. Salaries for Native Americans and Pacific Islanders are not reported because of the small number of people who responded in those categories.

 

Salary breakdown by region

Salaries continue to vary widely by region. In some cases bachelor's degree recipients made more than those with a master's degree

Pacific

Bachelor’s
$96,000
Master’s
$92,700
Doctorate
$123,584
Regional median
$117,345
Unemployment
2.5%

# of Respondents

Bachelor’s (80)
95,000
Master’s (99)
98,000
Doctorate (510)
134,500
Regional median (690)
123,000
Unemployment
0.56%

Mountain

Bachelor’s
$83,000
Master’s
$69,000
Doctorate
$102,000
Regional median
$93,800
Unemployment
0.7%

West North Central

Bachelor’s
$76,400
Master’s
$70,000
Doctorate
$93,000
Regional median
$84,000
Unemployment
2.5%

West South Central

Bachelor’s
$77,500
Master’s
$65,000
Doctorate
$101,940
Regional median
$97,656
Unemployment
0.9%

East North Central

Bachelor’s
$77,600
Master’s
$75,550
Doctorate
$98,350
Regional median
$91,000
Unemployment
1.1%

East South Central

Bachelor’s
$72,800
Master’s
$75,000
Doctorate
$94,752
Regional median
$88,500
Unemployment
1.8%

South Atlantic

Bachelor’s
$75,263
Master’s
$78,242
Doctorate
$110,000
Regional median
$102,000
Unemployment
1.6%

Middle Atlantic

Bachelor’s
$89,220
Master’s
$95,000
Doctorate
$107,000
Regional median
$105,000
Unemployment
1.8%

New England

Bachelor’s
$80,000
Master’s
$92,750
Doctorate
$123,000
Regional median
$113,000
Unemployment
1.4%
 

Unemployment

Unemployment for ACS members fell drastically in 2020 right before the pandemic started to affect the economy

2020
1.5%
2019
2.6%

Unemployment was highest for ACS members with only a bachelor's degree

Note: Numbers reflect unemployment status as of March 1 in the indicated year.

 

Who took the survey?

These are the US ACS members who took the 2020 survey

 

More respondents worked in academia than industry





Most had a doctoral degree





Most respondents were native US citizens





Most respondents were men





Respondents were predominantly white

Note: Numbers do not add to 100% because respondents could choose more than one race and could additionally denote their Hispanic/Latino identity in response to a separate question.





The largest proportion of respondents were 45–54 years old, with an average age of 42.6





Only a small fraction identified themselves as disabled

4%

These are the top 10 industries in which respondents worked


Those in educational fields worked in a variety of jobs, with more men in faculty positions

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