Physics graduates at work. The employment sectors, job satisfaction, and salaries of physics bachelor’s degree recipients in the US who joined the workforce are detailed in Physics Bachelor’s Initial Employment, a new report by the Statistical Research Center at the American Institute of Physics.
From the classes of 2009 and 2010, 60% enrolled in graduate programs. Of the 40% who entered the workforce, just over half found work in the private sector. Three quarters of those were in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, with typical annual salaries ranging from $39 000 to $60 000. Private-sector jobs in non-STEM fields were in such areas as finance, food service, sales, and manual labor and paid from $20 000 to $52 000 a year.
Among other graduates entering the workforce, 13% worked in colleges and universities and earned $25 000–$40 000; 11% became high school teachers with salaries between $31...
