PDF versionThe 2016 AGI Status of the Geoscience Workforce Report: Positive Trends in a Hard Time
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Carolyn Wilson (cwilson@americangeosciences.org)
8/29/2016
Alexandria, VA - The American Geosciences Institute (AGI) announces the publication of its 2016 Status of the Geoscience Workforce Report, its biennial comprehensive report on educational, employment, and economic indicators in the geosciences.
The status report integrates primary data collected by AGI along with data from federal agencies and geoscience societies to provide a view into the state of the geosciences.
Some of the more notable highlights from this year's 142-page report include:
- Even though experienced employment in the energy sector has been soft since 2014, both new graduates entering the energy sector and all geoscientists engaging in the environmental and engineering consulting industries have been seeing growth and robust activity, with now nearly 325,000 geoscientists working in the United States.
- Since 2014, a combination of continued record geoscience university enrollment, increased efficiency in industry, and some softening of expected demand in the energy industry, the projected 2024 shortfall in geoscientists in the United States has shrunk from 135,000 to 90,000 full-time equivalents.
- The 2016 report highlights the full salary ranges for geoscience graduates at the bachelor's-, master's- and doctoral-levels, and notes that every new graduate making more than $90,000 annually was employed by the oil and gas sector. There was also a documented increase in median salaries in major geoscience industries, continuing the trend of the geosciences as one of the most well-compensated STEM fields.
- Though federal funding of geoscience research has now dropped to only 6% of the total federal research budget, that still represents $4 Billion in 2013, the highest level since the 2009 stimulus package.
The 2016 Report (ISBN-13: 978-0-913312-54-4) is available for sale either digitally as a PDF for $10.00 or in print for $30.00. For more information and ordering information, please visit http://www.americangeosciences.org/workforce/reports.
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The American Geosciences Institute is a nonprofit federation of geoscientific and professional associations that represents more than 250,000 geologists, geophysicists and other earth scientists. Founded in 1948, AGI provides information services to geoscientists, serves as a voice of shared interests in the profession, plays a major role in strengthening geoscience education, and strives to increase public awareness of the vital role the geosciences play in society's use of resources, resiliency to natural hazards, and interaction with the environment.
