Careers

Physics Career Opportunities

There are several excellent sources for information on careers in physics.

The American Institute of Physics publishes the latest employment data for physicists. Their surveys show that currently about two thirds of students graduating with a bachelor degree in physics go on to earn a graduate degree in physics or other fields, sometimes after working for a few years in industry. The private sector employs most of the recent physics graduates, often as engineers and in computer science and information technology, however the range of job opportunities for physicists is very broad and includes careers in physics and other natural sciences and education.

The Career Center of the American Physical Society (APS) gives advice to students who want to prepare for a career in physics and provides links to sites that illustrates the variety of positions held by physicists. The APS Online Career Center is a searchable data base for physics-related jobs.

Also, “Physics Today”, the national monthly publication of the AIP, has job listings for students at http://www.physicstoday.org/jobs.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the US Department of Labor reports separately the employment outlook for physicists and astronomers in postsecondary education [http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos066.htm] and other fields of employment [http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos052.htm] in its Occupational Outlook Handbook (2010-11 Edition). The Bureau reports that employment of physicists and astronomers is expected to grow faster than the average for all occupations during the 2008-18 decade.