The supply and demand of chemists is affected by many interrelated factors such as the strength of the economy, political climate, number of STEM graduates, globalization and the prices of raw materials.  There is a growing gap in unemployment percentages between established chemists and mid-career relative to recent graduates; nevertheless, chemists have historically enjoyed relatively low unemployment relative to the general population.  Starting with the most recent recession in the late 2000’s, that gap has been widening and not recovering, and the overall unemployment among chemists at all career stages has not fully recovered to pre-recession lows.  Data suggest that the nature of the chemical industry is changing, which may require changes in how we educate future practitioners, professionals, and non-chemists.  We will present analyses of how ACS has responded in the past to similar challenges along with suggestions as to how ACS could step out in front of the changing professions to promote diverse learning opportunities and broaden the career sustainability of current and future members.

Addressing the challenges of unemployment of young graduates and mid-carrier chemical professionals

251st National Meeting (2016)

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