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Findings from the Initial Employment Survey of physics master's, classes of 2005 & 2006

by Patrick Mulvey, and Casey Tesfaye

• There were 1,597 exiting physics master's in the combined class of 2005 and 2006. We received data on 39% of these individuals. A little over one-quarter of the exiting master's came from departments where the highest physics degree offered was the master's. The balance came from PhD-granting departments. Some of the latter intended to receive a master's and some had originally sought a PhD. The combined classes of exiting master's consisted of 23% women and 38% non-US citizens (Table 1).
• Overall, about 60% of the master's entered the workforce, with only a small percent not having secured some type of employment in the winter following the year they received their degree. A much larger proportion of the US citizens immediately entered the workforce than non-US citizens (76% vs 24%). (Figure 1).
• The remaining master's immediately continued their graduate education at another department. Two-thirds of these choose to remain in the field of physics. As noted above, initial outcomes of physics master's vary greatly by citizenship with foreign citizens being 3 times more likely to continue with graduate study than their US counterparts.
• The private sector continues to employ about half of new physics master's that enter the workforce (Figure 2). The vast majority (93%) of physics master's employed in the private sector indicated working in the fields of natural science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM).
• Physics master's recipients accept positions in a variety of employment sectors. The master's employed at colleges and universities, which includes 2-year colleges and University Affiliated Research Institutes, are often laboratory coordinators, programmers, and instructors. Two-thirds of the master's employed as high school teachers are primarily teaching physics with the balance primarily teaching mathematics or another science. The master's employed in the active military came from both military academies and non-military schools.
• Figure 3 compares the private sector starting salaries for physics degree recipients in the combined classes of 2005 and 2006 . In each degree group, the private sector employs about half of the new degree recipients accepting potentially permanent employment. The figure clearly illustrates that the higher the degree, the greater the typical starting salary. For the bachelors, there is a difference between bachelor's employed in STEM positions compared to non-STEM positions. Non-STEM positions cover a diverse set of fields and work activities resulting in a very broad range of typical starting salaries (Figure 3).