Employment patterns changing in chemicals

The chemical workforce is slowly, but steadily, changing. The recession, the drive for efficiency, and the increased use of automated systems have all worked to reduce the size of the workforce and to lower the percentage of production workers within the chemical workforce. In spite of the recovery in the chemical industry, employment is still well below prerecession levels. According to data from the Department of Labor, U.S. chemical employment reached its peak, like so many things in the chemical industry, in 1979. At that time, the government figures show, an average of 1,109,300 employees worked in the U.S. chemical industry. Some up and down movement occurred in 1980 and 1981, but 1982 and 1983 showed definite declines. By 1983, the chemical workforce had fallen to 1,046,800, almost 6% below its level just four years earlier and the lowest that it had been since 1976. In 1984, the number of total employees in the chemicals ...