UNEMPLOYMENT LEVELS WERE ONLY 2 PERCENT FOR U.S. PHYSICS PHDS receiving their degrees in 1997 and seeking employment in the winter after their graduation, dropping from a recent high of 6% for the class of 1993, according to a new report from the American Institute of Physics. However, most Ph.D.s in permanent positions stated that they were working in an area that was not primarily physics, although this does not mean that their jobs involved little or no physics. Perhaps surprisingly in the post-Cold War era, bachelor recipients from the class of 1998 appear to be, if anything, exceedingly hopeful about their long-range career goals: for example, 61% said they intended to become a college or university professor, but this is far higher than the percentage historically attaining this goal. Most employed master's degree recipients from the class of 1997 (62%) work in industry, with three-fourths viewing their job as being related to physics. After many years of decreasing steadily, the number of students earning physics bachelor's degrees has stabilized at least for the time being, with a total of 3,821 granted in the 1997-98 academic year. (Report available at the AIP Education and Employment Statistics Division.)
