The NSF Spreads Some Cheer

The NSF reported last week that the science and engineering job market has gotten better, with unemployment down but numbers of people working in these fields up, reports the blog, Science Progress. According to a NSF press release, the number of people working in science and engineering grew by 4.3 percent, while the unemployment rate dropped to 2.5 percent in 2006, the lowest unemployment rate since the early 1990s. "The drop was consistent across all degree levels and almost all science and engineering occupations," says Nimmi Kannankutty, NSF program manager responsible for compiling the data.