How will the US chemistry job market look in 2020?

Abstract

The Thanksgiving turkey has long been roasted, carved, and turned into soup, which means it’s time to boil down my predictions for the 2020 US chemistry job market. Last year I thought a recession might be in the cards for 2019, but the US has not seen any significant declines in gross domestic product (GDP). In fact, the first quarter of this year showed a healthy 3.1% increase in GDP from the previous quarter, with modest 2.0% increases in both the second and third quarters. So unless something dramatic happens, a recession will not occur in 2019. The broad consensus among Wall Street economists is that there won’t be a recession next year either. Why do we care about the broader economy? Because scientists’ employment typically rises and falls with it, which isn’t surprising, as the chemical enterprise touches nearly all parts of the economy. How did I do with