Bev Robertson, Department of Physics,
Michael Steinitz, Department of Physics,
The Highly Qualified Personnel study attempts to determine:
(i) background information on the nature of the Highly Qualified Personnel who
have graduated in physics from Canadian universities over the last twelve
years; (ii) the nature of the employment found by those individuals; and (iii)
the nature of any relationships between that employment and their university
experience.
Physics graduates who had received a B.Sc. from a Canadian university
through the years 1985 to 1996 inclusive were asked to participate in this
study. Respondents were then divided into those for whom the latest degree was
the B.Sc., the M.Sc., and the Ph.D. Individuals who had been awarded a B.Sc.
within the designated 12-year period, but who had received an M.Sc. or Ph.D. in
the spring of 1997 were also included. The response rates have been estimated
to be 12% for the B.Sc., 18% for the M.Sc. and 40% for the Ph.D.
Of the 945 graduates who provided valid responses, 166 (18%) were female.
For comparison, of those who graduated with a physics or astronomy B.Sc. in
1996 from universities in the
In order to compare our unemployment numbers with others based on the usual
meaning of ``percent unemployed'', we should remove those still in the
educational stream from the sample population. They total 28%, leaving a real
unemployment rate for Canadian physicists who responded to this survey of 2.5%.
The 1994 NSERC survey of all Postgraduate Scholarship and 1967 Science and
Engineering Scholarship winners in all disciplines who received their
scholarship in 1985 found an unemployment rate for this group between 2.2 and
2.8%. Our results show an unemployment rate for physicists with graduate
degrees not measurably different from zero. Further, the unemployed are mostly
female, in which case even this extremely low unemployment level may be the
simple consequence of the biological imperatives of child rearing.
Of those employed (excluding students, postdoctorals), 45% worked in an
educational institution, 32% in industry and 14% in government, leaving 9%
giving responses as ``other''. When broken down according to degree, the major
differences in employment locations between degree levels is that 41% of those
with the B.Sc. as their last degree work in industry while only 26 of M.Sc.
recipients and 23% of Ph.D. recipients work in industry, and that 37% of
B.Sc.'s work in education, while 54% of M.Sc.'s and 53% of Ph.D.'s work in
education.
Table 1 shows the salary averaged over the M.Sc. and the Ph.D. for
individuals associated with the four physics related GSC's. Using the number of
responses from each, the correctly weighted average for the combination is
$42,500.
Table 1: Average
salary according to physics GSC. |
|
Grant Selection
Committee |
Average Salary |
Subatomic
Physics (GSC 19) |
$53,400 |
Condensed Matter
Physics (GSC 28) |
$45,600 |
General Physics
(GSC 29) |
$43,900 |
Space and
Atmospheric Physics (GSC 17) |
$37,600 |
Seventy-eight percent of those physics graduates who responded to the survey
reside in
Respondents were asked to identify themselves as belonging to one of the
following categories (a) they use their physics background directly in their
employment, (b) they are not employed in a physics related job, but the skills
and/or modes of thought provided by their physics background are useful in
their employment , or (c) their physics education is
neither directly nor indirectly related to their employment.
The results, according to degree, are given in Table 2.
Table 2: Physics
Relevance (%) |
||||
Relevance |
B.Sc. |
M.Sc. |
Ph.D. |
All |
(a) Use physics
background directly |
34 |
57 |
68 |
52 |
(b) Use skills
and/or modes of thought |
57 |
40 |
30 |
41 |
(c) Not relevant
to employment |
9 |
3 |
2 |
7 |
Our results confirm that physicists experience very low levels of
unemployment. One reason appears to be that they find many paths to a
fulfilling career available to them, and not just those paths to the
traditional physics related workplace. An AIP study focused on M.Sc. recipients
has reached a similar conclusion. Regardless of where physicists find
themselves working, they value their educ ational experience highly, as has
been shown by both this study and the aforemen tioned AIP study. Several
authors have argued convincingly that physicists are able to contribute the
skills and/or modes of thought provided by their physics education to areas not
normally associated with physics. Our own results show that physicists are also
well paid, but we are not able to make comparisons between the salaries of
physicists and that of those associated with related scientific disciplines in
However, similar trends have been identified elsewhere, and they have been
the subject of much discussion. ``Physicists tend to ....approach an
application in terms of a few physical principles that can integrate and
synthesize what often appear as unrelated aspects of a problem.'' (John Rigden in the Industrial Physicist.) ``.....physicists
have a universal goal of understanding deeply whatever they are
studying......Professionals from other disciplines, by contrast, do not share
this goal...'' (Joseph Pimbley in Physics Today.) ``Employers
are willing to pay premium salaries to gain the problem-solving skills
physicists are able to apply to their companies' needs.'' (Brian Schwartz in APS News.) These are clearly subjective
opinions but they invite further study into the role of physicists in
non-physics related places of employment.
Our findings have implications for the education of physicists. If 40% of
physics graduates find themselves using their physics background, but not in a physics related job environment, perhaps more attention
should be given in their education to the application of the reasoning
processes of physics to non-physics applications. Perhaps physicists could be
even better prepared to integrate themselves into those non-science
environments to which they bring their unique perspectives.
Although physics undoubtedly attracts individuals who enjoy problem solving
and who seek deep understanding not only of nature but of any problem to which
they wish to apply themselves, the value of such individuals to society is
nurtured by their exposure to the rigour of a traditional post-secondary
physics education at both the graduate and undergraduate level. Joseph Pimbley
summarizes ``Four decades ago, a liberal arts education was thought to
prepare one well for any professional endeavour.....Physics is the liberal arts
education for a technological society''. We strongly recommend physics as a
choice for post-secondary education to any student.