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Employment is projected to decline. Workers involved in production and installation, maintenance, and repair hold about half of all jobs. Persons with technical and advanced degrees will have the best opportunities. Production workers earn more than in most industries.
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About half of those employed in the industry work in production and installation, maintenance, and repair occupations. Another 9 percent worked in transportation and material-moving occupations. Twenty-two percent worked in management, business, and financial; and office and administrative support occupations and about 13 percent work in professional and related occupations.
Production. Workers in production occupations operate and fix plant machinery, transport raw materials, and monitor the production process. Improvements in technology gradually are increasing the level of plant automation, reducing the number of jobs in production occupations. Although high school graduates qualify for most entry-level production jobs, advancement into better paying jobs, requiring higher skills or more responsibility, is possible with on-the-job training and work experience or through additional vocational training at a 2-year technical college.
Chemical plant and system operators monitor the entire production process. From chemical ingredient ratios to chemical reaction rates, the operator is responsible for the efficient operation of the chemical plant. Chemical plant operators generally advance to these positions from among the most experienced production workers, usually after having acquired extensive experience and technical training in chemical production processes. Experienced operators sometimes advance to senior supervisory positions.
Industrial machinery installation, repair, and maintenance workers repair equipment, install machines, or practice preventive maintenance in the plant. Workers advance to these jobs either through apprenticeships or formal vocational training, or by completing in-house training courses.
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers assure that the production process runs efficiently and that products meet quality standards. They refer problems to plant operators or managers.
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders wrap products and fill boxes to prepare the final product for shipment or sale to the wholesaler or consumer. Over half of these jobs are in the soap and cosmetics industry, due to the amount of packaging needed for this industry’s consumer products.
Transportation and material-moving workers move materials around the plant using industrial trucks or deliver finished products to customers by truck. For these jobs, employers seek experienced workers with knowledge of chemical hazards, safety procedures, and regulations governing the transport of hazardous chemicals. Operation of industrial trucks and tractors can be learned with on-the-job training, but previous experience driving a truck and a commercial driver’s license generally are required to operate a tractor-trailer carrying chemicals. Some jobs in transportation and material movement are open to workers without experience. Workers in these jobs move raw materials and finished products through the chemical plant and assist motor vehicle operators in loading and unloading raw materials and chemicals. They learn safe ways to handle chemicals on the job and develop skills that enable them to advance to other occupations.
Research and development. Most workers in research and development have at least a college degree, and many have advanced degrees.
Chemists and materials scientists carry out research in a wide range of activities, such as analysis of materials, preparation of new materials or modification of existing ones, study of process chemistry pathways for new or existing products, and formulations of cosmetics, household care products, or paints and coatings. They also try to develop new chemicals for specific applications and new applications for existing chemicals. The most senior chemists sometimes advance to management positions. Although chemical companies hire some chemists with bachelor’s degrees, a master’s or doctoral degree is becoming more important for chemist jobs.
Chemical engineers design equipment and develop processes for manufacturing chemicals on a large scale. Chemical research engineers design and conduct experiments to learn how processes behave and conduct research for potential new chemical products and processes. A bachelor’s degree is essential for these jobs, and a master’s degree may be preferred or required for some jobs.
Engineering and science technicians assist chemists and engineers in research activities and may conduct some research independently. Those with bachelor’s degrees in chemistry or graduates of 2-year technical institutes usually fill these positions. Some graduates of engineering programs start as technicians until an opportunity to advance into an engineering position arises.
Administration and management. Most managers need a 4-year college degree in addition to experience in the industry. As in other highly technical industries, top managerial positions often are held by those with substantial technical experience. Employment in administrative support and managerial occupations is expected to decline as companies merge and consolidate operations.
Engineering managers conduct cost estimations, perform plant design feasibility studies, and coordinate daily operations. These jobs require a college degree in a technical discipline, such as chemistry or chemical engineering, and experience in the industry. Some employees advance from research and development positions to management positions.
Advertising, marketing, promotions, public relations, and sales managers promote sales of chemical products by informing customers of company products and services. A bachelor’s degree in marketing, chemistry, or chemical engineering usually is required for these jobs.
Office and administrative support workers perform office functions such as secretarial duties, bookkeeping, material records processing, and other clerical duties. Training beyond high school and familiarity with computers is preferred for these occupations.
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Manufacturing chemicals usually is a continuous process; this means that, once a process has begun, it cannot be stopped when it is time for workers to go home. Split, weekend, and night shifts are common, and workers on such schedules usually are compensated with higher rates of pay. As a result, the average workweek in the chemical industry was 42.1 hours in 2002, 2.0 hours longer than the average for nondurable manufacturing industries, and 8.4 hours longer than the average for all private industries. The industry employs relatively few part-time workers.
Most jobs in chemical manufacturing, except drugs, are in large establishments. The largest 20 percent of establishments that employed 50 or more workers in 2002 had over 80 percent of the industry’s jobs (chart 1). The plants usually are clean, although the continually running machines sometimes are loud and the interior of many plants can be hot. Hardhats and safety goggles are mandatory and worn throughout the plant.
Hazards in the chemical industry can be substantial, but they generally are avoided through strict safety procedures. Workers require protective gear and extensive knowledge of the dangers associated with the chemicals being handled. Body suits with breathing devices designed to filter out any harmful fumes are mandatory for work in dangerous environments.
In spite of the hazards of working with chemicals, extensive worker training on handling hazardous chemicals and chemical company safety measures have resulted in injury and illness rates for some segments of the chemical industry that are much lower than the average for the manufacturing sector. The United States chemical industry (including pharmaceuticals) reported just 3.3 cases of work-related injury or illness per 100 workers, compared with an average of 7.2 cases for all manufacturing industries in the United States in 2002.
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Earnings in the chemical industry are higher than average. The weekly earnings for all production workers in chemical manufacturing averaged $755 in 2002, compared with $619 in all manufacturing industries and $506 throughout private industry. This was due, in part, to the chemical industry’s practice of assigning more overtime and weekend work, which commands higher hourly rates. Wages of workers in the chemical industry vary according to occupation, the specific industry segment, and the size of the production plant.
The principal unions representing chemical workers are the PACE (Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical, and Energy Workers) International Union and the International Chemical Workers Union. In 2002, almost 14 percent of chemical manufacturing workers were union members or covered by union contracts, compared with about 15 percent of all workers.
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The chemical and allied products industry employed about 636,000 wage and salary workers in 2002, about 4 percent of the total number employed in manufacturing. Most segments of the industry had substantial numbers of jobs, as shown in table 1.
Under the new North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), workers in research and development (R&D) establishments that are not part of a manufacturing facility are included in a separate industry—research and development in the physical, engineering, and life sciences. However, due to the importance of R&D work to the chemical manufacturing industry, chemical-related R&D workers are discussed in this statement even though a large proportion of chemical-related R&D workers is not included in the employment data.
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1. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Career Guide to Industries, 2004-05 Edition, Chemical Manufacturing, Except Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing, on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/oco/cg/cgs008.htm (visited November 26, 2004).
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