22 Jul 2014
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Chemical Engineers Cashing In for 2013
posted by Unknown @ 06:06 0 Comments
Well not really, but it is true that not only have salaries
for chemical engineers skyrocketed since 2011, they are especially high in the
oil and gas business of Texas . The Department of Labor reports that median
salaries for chemical engineers in 2013 increased by 9 percent to $120,000
annually. On top of that, unemployment
in the field has dropped from 2.8 percent in 2011 to just 2.1 percent in 2013.
Before the great shale boom, salaries had actually dropped
to their lowest point in decades. The
sudden outpouring of natural gas has supplied an abundant new supply of
feedstock for the chemical business.
Chemical plants have been expanding at their fastest rate in decades and
so too has the demand for engineers.
Pay has more than doubled
Pay for chemical engineers has more than doubled since
1992. Back then the median salary was
only $59,700. As expected, those working
in the booming oil and gas business are the highest paid. Those chemical engineers working in the oil
and gas business pulled down a median salary of $150,000.
Women well represented
Women now fill almost half of all positions in the field. Even so, salaries for women remain below that
of their male counterparts. They start
out around the same, at $77,000 apiece, but as their careers progress it seems
women do not advance as do men.
While both in their mid-thirties, after 10 years on the job,
men average $140,000 while women earn just $103,000. Some say the gap exists because of family
leave, where women are not paid for time off from work.
“Most of the
male respondents who took time off were out for three months or less, while
female respondents were most likely to take off four to six months,” says
Cynthia Mascone the American Institute of
Chemical Engineers’ magazine.
After a woman’s salary falls behind, it seems to never catch
up.
“We read this
as good news, though, for women pursuing a career in chemical engineering,” says American
Institute of Chemical
Engineers Executive Director June Wispelwey
What she
means is that the pay imbalance is not measured on an even scale and that those
women who take the pay cut do so voluntarily.
For more information about the chemical engineering
industry, please visit the American Institute of Chemical Engineers at AICHE.org.
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by Philip Loyd, Brown Editor
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