the end of the decade. 



The decline in the proportion of academic 

 scientists and engineers engaged in R&D, which 

 started as early as 1961, was primarily due to the 

 growth in faculty needed for teaching the rapid- 

 ly increasing number of college students and, 

 secondarily, the leveling off of funds (in con- 

 stant dollars) available for R&D. The first factor 

 was dominant in the early I960's, while both 

 factors were important in the late 1960's. 



Another noteworthy development of the 

 1960's was the increase (from 5 to 10 percent) of 

 those with natural science and engineering 

 doctorates in non-academic, non-R&D activi- 

 ties.- This change is especially significant as it 

 took place during a "sellers' market," in which 

 the individual scientist or engineer could usually 

 choose his area of work. This employment trend 

 is expected to continue, possibly at an 

 accelerated rate, because of expected changes in 

 the supply/demand relationship for doctorates. 



The percentage of doctorates involved in R&D 

 is considerably higher than for nondoctorate 

 scientists and engineers, although there is sub- 

 stantial variation from field to field (figure 38). 

 Especially notable are the relatively low percent- 

 ages of Ph.D. mathematicians and social scien- 

 tists involved in R&D. 



Distribution by Employment Sector 



The percentage distribution of scientists and 

 engineers among types of employers changed 

 somewhat during the lOdO's, with a relative de- 

 cline in industry and an increase in universities 

 and colleges (figure 39). While the large size of 

 industry as an employer tends to obscure rela- 

 tive increases in other sectors, figure 39 shows a 

 significant growth in the number of scientists 

 and engineers employed in universities and 

 colleges and other nonprofit institutions. 



ENROLLMENTS AND 

 DEGREE PRODUCTION 



Enrollments in High School Science Courses 



An early indicator of changes in student 

 interest in science is secondary school enroll- 

 ments in science courses relative to total enroll- 

 ment. Figure 40 relates enrollments for 1960-61 



Figure 38 



Distribution of Scientists and Engineers, 



by Activity and Broad Field, 1970 



Non-Ph.D.'s 



{Percent] 

 100 I 



75 - 



Other 



R&D 



5llU 



lutJl Phyoicjl Life Mathe- Social Engineers 



scientists scientists maticians scientists 



Ph.D.'s 



(Percent) 

 100 



75- 



Other 



ImIiiI 



Total Physical Life Mathe- Social Engineers 



scientists scientists maticians scientists 



SOURCE U S Department ol Labor and National Science Foundation 



- National Science Foundation, 7 96? and 1980 Science ami 

 Engineering Docloraie Supply ond Ulilizalion, NSF 71-20. 



and 19b9-70 to a 1948-49 based index. Overall, 

 enrollments in science and mathematics courses 

 grew faster than total enrollment, with the 

 largest growth occurring in psychology and 

 economics and the smallest in physics, 

 chemistry, and mathematics. The above aver- 

 age increase in social science course enrollments 

 may be due in part to the limited availability of 

 such courses in earlier years. Only in the field of 

 physics was the growth less than increases in 

 total enrollment. 



College and University 

 Enrollments and Degree Production 



Enrollments. The fraction of first-year college 

 students who intend to work toward careers as 



52 



