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发信人: myosotis (阿金), 信区: AdvancedEdu
标  题: 98-99 ocupational outlook/Chemical Engineers
发信站: BBS 水木清华站 (Mon Apr  6 22:00:29 1998)

Chemical Engineers
(D.O.T. 008.061)

   * Nature of the Work

          Chemical engineers apply the principles of chemistry and
          engineering to solve problems involving the production or
          use of chemicals. They design equipment and develop
          processes for large scale chemical manufacturing, plan and
          test methods of manufacturing the products and treating the
          by-products, and supervise production. Chemical engineers
          also work in industries other than chemical manufacturing
          such as electronics or photographic equipment. Because the
          knowledge and duties of chemical engineers cut across many
          fields, they apply principles of chemistry, physics,
          mathematics, and mechanical and electrical engineering in
          their work. They frequently specialize in a particular
          operation such as oxidation or polymerization. Others
          specialize in a particular area such as pollution control or
          the production of specific products such as automotive
          plastics or chlorine bleach. Chemical engineers are
          increasingly using computer technology to optimize all
          phases of production, and therefore need to understand how
          to apply computer skills to process analysis, computer
          control systems, and statistical quality control.

   * Employment

          Chemical engineers held over 49,000 jobs in 1996.
          Manufacturing industries employed two-thirds of all
          employees, primarily in the chemical, petroleum refining,
          paper, and related industries. Most of the rest worked for
          engineering services, research and testing services, or
          consulting firms that design chemical plants. Still others
          worked on a contract basis, for government agencies or as
          independent consultants.

   * Job Outlook

          Although employment in the chemical manufacturing industry
          is projected to grow slowly through 2006, employment of
          chemical engineers should increase about as fast as the
          average for all occupations as chemical companies research
          and develop new chemicals and more efficient processes to
          increase output of existing chemicals. Much of the projected
          growth in employment, however, will be in nonmanufacturing
          industries, especially service industries. Chemical
          engineering graduates may face competition for jobs as the
          number of openings is projected to be lower than the number
          of graduates. Areas relating to the production of specialty
          chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and plastics materials may
          provide better opportunities than other portions of the
          chemical industry.

          (See introductory part of this section for information on
          training requirements, earnings, and sources of additional
          information.)

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[Image] Occupational Outlook Handbook Home Page

[Image] BLS Home Page

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Douglas Braddock
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Braddock_D@bls.gov
Last modified: January 15, 1998
URL: http://stats/bls.gov/oco/ocos029.htm

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