Resumen de Physics bachelors one year later and the pandemic
Last month, we noted that about half of physics bachelor’s degree recipients pursue graduate study, while the other half enter the workforce. The figure below provides a look back over the last 25 years. We see a decline in the proportion of graduates entering the workforce in the early 2000s, likely due to economic pressures. We see a similar drop for the most recent graduates. We saw the highest proportion of graduates unemployed and seeking that we have ever seen in our data. This shift toward a higher unemployment rate was likely driven by the major recession and stock market crash in 2020, both driven by the uncertainty of COVID-19’s impact on the economy. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of nonfarm job openings from February 2020 to April 2020 dropped by 2.5 million (34%).
