May 2008
National Science Foundation: Post Doc Employment
Postdoc Participation of Science, Engineering, and Health Doctorate Recipients, provides data on post-docs in the sciences, noting that "45% of the most recent science, engineering, and health (SEH) doctorate recipients had completed or were participating in postdoctoral appointments, up from 41% in 1995. The median length of postdoctoral appointment over that time period remained at approximately 2 years, continuing a 30-year trend. … The likelihood of taking a postdoc varies by field of doctorate. Individuals who earned doctorates in the life sciences (57%) or physical sciences (50%) were most likely to report having had a postdoc. Doctorate recipients in engineering (21%), computer/mathematical sciences (21%), and the social sciences (including psychology) (23%) were much less likely to have held a postdoc. … Although postdocs are often equated with academic or university research settings, about one-fourth of postdoc holders are employed by the government, private nonprofit organizations, and industry.
February 2008
State Science & Technology Institute: S&E Employment
Employment in S&E Occupations by Metropolitan Area in 2006 shows "the number of S&E employees and the percent of employees in S&E occupations for the 100 U.S. metropolitan areas with the largest number of employed people. For the U.S. as a whole, in 2006, just over 5.4 million had jobs in S&E occupations, which represents 4.1 percent of the working population. … The metropolitan area with the highest concentration of S&E employees was San Jose, whose 126,000 S&E employees make up 14.1 percent of the total. The Durham, N.C., and Washington, D.C., metros were the only other two with concentrations greater than 10 percent. Other areas with high concentrations included the metros centered at Austin (7.9 percent), Seattle (7.8 percent), Boston (7.4 percent), Colorado Springs (7.0 percent), Madison (6.9 percent), Raleigh (6.9 percent), and San Francisco (6.9 percent)….Data was not available for the New York City (NY-NJ-PA) and Poughkeepsie (NY) metro areas."
