MICHAEL HEYLIN, C&EN WASHINGTON

The median salary for American Chemical Society members who are chemists and have a full -time job in the U.S. has posted a sixth consecutive year of solid growth. The increase this year is almost four times the unusually low rate of inflation.

Meanwhile, unemployment among chemist members has reversed a substantial year-earlier decline and spiraled to its highest level since ACS started measuring it annually and on a reasonably consistent basis 30 years ago.

These are the bifurcated major findings from the 2002 edition of ACS’s survey of the salary and employment status of its domestic members.