The total number of women employed in scientific work in the Federal Government is not known. But the Women's Bureau in 1946 obtained statistics from more than 50 separate bureaus and other units of the Federal Government which were reported by the United States Civil Service Commission to be principal employers of scientific workers. From some, only partial statistics were available so that the numbers given represent a minimum. However, the variety of the scientific work done by women is indicated, and it is probable that the volume of women's employment in scientific work approaches and may exceed 1,000 (table 6). The employment of women in Government scientific work appears to be more varied as to scientific field and less concentrated than it is in industry. However, chemistry and mathematics rank highest in Government as they do in industry and in educational institutions.

THE SUPPLY OF SCIENTIFIC PERSONNEL

The usual difficulties of adjusting the supply of workers in a given field to the demand for them are found in even greater degree in the sciences. The inadequacy of current information on job openings and the lack of mobility of trained personnel are handicaps in these fields as in others. Regional and local differences in demand in the sciences are noted later. The long and specialized preparation required for scientific work is an additional factor which impedes a ready adjustment of supply to demand.

Training and Supply

Training as a factor in supply becomes more important at the graduate level of preparation but must also be reckoned with at the bachelor's degree level. The scientific fields discussed in this bulletin, unlike medicine, do not have minimum requirements set by law for all those engaged in them. Among them, engineering and architecture are the only fields in which licensing is provided for in all or most States. In 1946, most architects and about one-third of the engineers were registered. For registration, graduation from an approved school or the equivalent is usually required in addition to specified experience and, often, the passing of certain examinations. In these and in some of the nonlicensed fields, there are also standards of education and job experience required for membership in professional organizations which influence, although they do not in any sense set, requirements for employment. These are described in other bulletins in this series. In chemistry, as well as in engineering and architecture, standards have been established for approved courses of training. Such standards over a period of years influence both employers and training centers, raising the usual requirements for employment and extending the customary training period.

These standards, combined with the increasing complexity of scientific knowledge, have tended toward longer education. In engineering, for example, where graduate training is not customary, the trend is toward a 5-year undergraduate course as compared with a 4-year course (26). In the physical and biological sciences, where graduate training is usual, the number of Ph. D.'s was increasing rapidly before the war. In 1941, 2.000 Ph. D.'s were awarded in the sciences, an 8-fold increase over the 1912 number. The increase in advanced

study in the sciences during that period was twice as great as the increase in college enrollments generally (32).

The number of Ph. D.'s awarded in the sciences each year represents an addition to the supply of scientists qualified by their high degree of academic specialization for research and college teaching positions. In addition to the 2,000 doctorates in the sciences awarded in 1941, the major addition to the supply that year was derived from the 17,000 persons who received a bachelor's degree in one of the sciences and the 14,000 engineers who were graduated that year (32). Perhaps 1,000 of these graduates entered schools of medicine or dentistry or took other professional work. A small additional number, mostly women, for family, health, or other reasons, did not enter work requiring scientific training. The number of newcomers to full-time employment in the sciences and engineering in the last year before World War II was, therefore, probably in the neighborhood of, and probably less than, 30,000, including 2,000 Ph. D.'s and some 14,000 engineers. An unknown number, amounting to less than 10,000 of these, merely replaced persons who died, retired, or transferred to nonscientific work.

The supply of persons in scientific work, therefore, was increasing before the war at both the higher Ph. D. and the lower bachelor's degree levels. However, the rate of growth varied in the different fields, as discussed in other bulletins in this series.

Effect of World War II on the Supply

In addition to the acceleration of college programs, other attempts were made during World War II to increase the supply of scientific personnel to meet the tremendous additional demand, especially for engineers, physicists, chemists, and mathematicians. But the long and specialized type of training required to prepare persons fully for scientific work placed a limit on these attempts. In the military services, men and a few women, already prepared in the sciences or engineering, were given specialized training for highly specialized scientific tasks. And, under the Engineering, Science, Management War Training program financed by the Federal Government in more than 200 colleges and universities throughout the country, more than one million men and more than one-fourth million women were trained mainly as aids or assistants to engineers, chemists, or physicists (41). Some of the latter, also, received additional training for war tasks. But the principal increase achieved through this program, like that attained through the engineering aid and drafting programs set up by industry and Government and described in Bulletin 223-5 in this series, was at the semi- or sub-professional level. This increase, however, enabled the professional scientific personnel to spread their skills over a wider area and freed them from many

of the more routine tasks that in peacetime they are called upon to perform.

While this type of conservation of the supply already trained for scientific work was taking place, however, the primary source of additional scientists was virtually cut off by the drafting of the young men who normally make up the college enrollments in the sciences and engineering. During the early part of the war, the Army Specialized Training Program and the Navy V-5 and V-12 programs enabled some of these young men to remain in college, and some of the more advanced students were deferred from military service. But, in spite of many objections, the United States ultimately drafted its potential scientists along with other young men who qualified for military service. This wartime curtailment deprived the Nation of about one-half of its normal increase in scientists and an aggregate during the war years of 90,000 bachelors of scientific subjects, plus some 5,000 Ph. D.'s, according to the President's Scientific Research Board (48). It also resulted in a higher proportion of women graduates among those who completed their training during this period.

In 19 scattered colleges and universities of various types which supplied statistics on the number of women obtaining degrees in science or mathematics before the war, during the war, and in 1945-46, for example, that number increased steadily from 479 bachelor's in 1939-40 to 617 bachelor's in 1945-46, a total increase of 29 percent. Master's and doctor's degrees awarded to women at these institutions also increased in the same period from 90 to 118, a 31 percent increase. Following the end of the war, the encouragement and financial aid supplied by the GI bill resulted in the highest college enrollments in the history of the Nation, and in record enrollments in engineering (where they doubled the prewar number), in chemistry, and in physics. In geology and the biological sciences, however, the National Research Council's Office of Scientific Personnel reported that enrollments seemed to have decreased in spite of the increase in demand. In 1946, the number of bachelor's degrees awarded in science totaled 35,000. This corresponded roughly to the usual prewar number, but it was not enough to make up the wartime deficit or to meet the constantly growing peacetime demand for scientific personnel. The production of Ph. D.'s in 1946 was still a third below prewar levels, and deficits were expected to continue to 1957, since it takes "an average of 10 years of training to prepare for independent scientific research." (48)

In 1947, the President's Scientific Research Board predicted a quantitatively ample supply of scientists by 1957. In 1947, no oversupply

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in any field appeared probable, but engineers were declared to be in better supply than any other major scientific group (48).

The Board, however, like others who have examined the situation, expressed concern over the quality of the supply of scientific personnel produced (45). Science classes in most colleges and universities were too large in 1947 for individual attention and encouragement. Although twice as many science and engineering students were enrolled in 1946-47 as compared with the years preceding the war, science faculties had increased only one-third and were not as highly trained. Only greater maturity and effort on the part of science students and the varied wartime experience of some of the faculty members could offset the handicaps which beset scientific education in the early postwar period.

Potential Supply

The long and specialized character of the preparation required for scientific work affects the supply of scientific workers in another way. Its costliness in terms of both time and money undoubtedly results in the loss of some talented individuals who might otherwise prepare themselves for work in this field. This is particularly true of young