Market heats up for S/E doctorates

Anecdotal reports indicate that the job prospects for Ph.D. scientists and engineers in the United States have been improving. Available data support this view degree awards continue their decline while research spending grew at a near record pace during the second half of the 1990s. Foreign student s helped increase supply from U.S. universities during the early 1990s, but their increase has leveled off There is little information, however, on th e migration of people with doctorates earned abroad. Should research spendi ng remain strong the market for doctorates in science and engineering is li kely to improve further because graduate enrollment responds with a lag. Ne eds in some ar eas are surely going to be met in part by increased numbers of migrants with doctorates from foreign institutions.