[Mb-civic] It's Not a Science Gap (Yet) - Robert J. Samuelson - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

It's Not a Science Gap (Yet)

By Robert J. Samuelson
Wednesday, August 10, 2005; Page A17

A nation's economic power could once be judged by tons of steel or 
megawatts of electricity. But we have moved beyond these simple 
indicators or even updated versions, such as computer chips. All 
advanced societies now depend so completely on technology that their 
economic might is often measured by their number of scientists and 
engineers. By that indicator, America's economic power is waning. We're 
producing a shrinking share of the world's technological talent. China 
and India are only the newest competitors to erode our position. We need 
to consider the implications, because they're more complicated than they 
seem.

As late as 1975, the United States graduated more engineering and 
scientific PhDs than Europe and more than three times as many as all of 
Asia, reports Harvard University economist Richard Freeman in a recent 
paper. No more. The European Union now graduates about 50 percent more, 
and Asia is slightly ahead of us. By Freeman's estimates, China has 
reached almost half the U.S. total and will easily overtake us by 2010. 
Among engineers with bachelor's degrees, the gaps are already huge. In 
2001 China graduated 220,000 engineers, against about 60,000 for the 
United States, the National Science Foundation reports.

Freeman also documents a second worrisome reality: U.S. scientists and 
engineers aren't well paid, considering their skills and -- especially 
for PhDs -- the required time for a degree. This means, Freeman says, 
that "the job market . . . is too weak to attract increasing numbers of 
U.S. students." Consider some pay comparisons. From 1990 to 2000, 
average incomes for engineering PhDs increased from $65,000 to $91,000, 
up 41 percent; PhDs in natural sciences (physics, chemistry) rose from 
$56,000 to $73,000, up 30 percent. Meanwhile, average doctors' incomes 
increased from $99,000 to $156,000, up 58 percent; and lawyers went from 
$77,000 to $115,000, up 49 percent.

The true situation may be worse. Next to other elites, scientific and 
engineering PhDs fare poorly. Look at the 891 MBA recipients of the 
Harvard Business School's class of 2005. At an average age of 27, they 
command a median starting salary of $100,000. It's true that the 
two-year cost of a Harvard MBA is steep ($120,000 and up), and 
four-fifths of the students are left with debts averaging $81,000. But 
these new Harvard MBAs also got huge one-time bonuses; the median was 
$43,000. As for scientific and engineering PhDs, they typically require 
seven to eight years to finish their degrees, notes Freeman.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/09/AR2005080901164.html?nav=hcmodule

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