Science Industry Overview

Science jobs require intelligence, creativity and curiosity. A career in science, regardless of your specialty, will almost certainly involve forming and testing theories.

Here’s a rundown of some common science careers:

• Choose a chemist job and you’ll study the structure, composition and reactions of substances to come up with new products, processes or materials.
• A microbiologist job involves studying the growth, development and other characteristics of microscopic organisms.
• In a biochemist job or biophysicist job, you’ll focus on the chemical and physical principles of living things and of biological processes, such as cell development, growth and heredity.
• Lab technicians work on research lab tasks, such as setting up equipment, running tests and reporting results.
• Select a research assistant job to help scientists work on lab tests and experiments.
• In a medical scientist career, you’ll find ways to limit or cure diseases.
• Natural sciences managers’ jobs combine business and science.

Science Job Market

The aging of the Baby Boomers and the demand for lifesaving new drugs and procedures to cure and prevent disease will likely drive demand for medical research. At the same time, merger-and-acquisition activity as well as expanded use of global employees will limit the number of science employment opportunities in the US in years to come.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) predicts that between 2010 and 2020:

• Jobs for chemists will grow 4 percent.
• Jobs for microbiologists will grow 13 percent.
• Jobs for biochemists and biophysicists will grow 31 percent, but that works out to just 7,700 new jobs over the decade because the industry is small.
• Jobs for biological technicians will grow 14 percent.
• Jobs for chemical technicians will grow only 7 percent, with declines expected in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries.
• Jobs for medical scientists will grow 36 percent, mostly in private industry.
• Jobs for natural sciences managers will grow by just 8 percent, mainly due to outsourcing.

Science Salaries

Salaries in science depend in large part upon how much education is required for the specific job. Here are 2011 median salaries for some common jobs in science, according to the BLS:

• Chemist: $69,760
• Microbiologist: $65,230
• Biochemist and biophysicist: $79,230
• Biological technician: $39,480
• Chemical technician: $42,070
• Life, physical and social science technician: $43,120
• Medical scientist: $76,130
• Natural sciences manager: $114,770