The Physics Job Market: Bleak for Young Physicists

During the past several years, many developments on both a national and global scale have greatly altered the job market for scientists and engineers in the US. The end of the cold war has meant deepening cuts in the Defense Department’s research programs and at nuclear weapons facilities funded by the Department of Energy. The recession has been unexpectedly persistent, and many large corporations have eliminated tens of thousands of jobs. Pressures on state and Federal budgets combined with the continued decline in the number of Americans who are of traditional college age (18–24 years old) have affected state and private colleges and universities. Geopolitical changes, especially the turmoil in the former Soviet and East Bloc countries, have prompted a significant number of senior scientists from those countries to look for positions elsewhere—in particular the US. These changes are sending shock waves through all sectors of the physics work force and adversely affecting the availability of jobs for physicists.