David M. Kiefer

Member unemployment last year lower than reported

Only about half as many chemists who are members of the American Chemical Society actually were out of work sometime last year as was indicated in C&ENs annual report on the economic status of ACS members (C&EN, June 29, page 33). Initial data from the survey of ACS members indicated that 9% of chemists had been jobless sometime during 1986, including 8% of the men and 13% of the women. The preliminary survey results also had indicated that 12% of chemists with no more than a B.S. degree, 10% of those with an M.S., and 7% of Ph.D.s had had a spell of unemployment during the year. A closer look at the survey results, made since C&EN published them, now indicates that this degree of unemployment probably is about twice as high as was actually the case. This years survey is the first to have asked whether respondents were without work any time during the ...

Sales climb for most big chemical producers

Last year was marked by satisfactory, if not spectacular, sales growth for leading U.S. chemical producers, as the industry continued to pull itself away from the recession-wracked early months of 1975. Solid increase in the production volume of major chemicals (see page 32) was the major factor bolstering dollar sales. And coupled with this were moderate gains in the selling prices of most chemical products; prices of industrial chemicals averaged about 6% higher in 1976 than in 1975, and prices of plastics were about 7% higher for the year as a whole. Consequently, the companies included in the current C&EN ranking of the Top 50 producers—listed in order of their sales of chemical products—managed to lift their dollar volume in chemicals 15% to just over

Facts and Figures-1974

59 billion. Many of the companies, of course, did much better than the average. It was a particularly robust year, for example, for companies heavily involved with petrochemicals (such ...

Busy year for chemical process industry

Spread throughout the 23 pages that make up C&ENs annual Facts and Figures section this year are more than 8000 individual bits of data. What do they all add up to? They provide, for one thing, a scorecard indicating how that amorphous mass known as the chemical industry and the individual sectors and firms of which it is comprised have been performing during the recent past. They also serve as a snapshot of the current status and stature of what continues to be one of the nations most fast-growing and fast-changing industries, offering benchmarks for comparing its diverse components with one another or with other areas of economic activity. Like any compilation of statistics, however, the figures by themselves must be viewed with caution. The picture they present, for one thing, is rather bloodless and lacking in depth. It shows what has happened, but the reasons why often remain submerged. It is, after all, people ...

Federal assessors are assessed: Report uncovers much technology assessment within federal agencies but gives them low marks for quality

The following pages present four years of significant financial data for 130 leading companies in the chemical process industries. The figures are for the calendar years 1965-68 unless otherwise indicated. C&EN has published similar data in each of its annual Facts & Figures supplements since 1956. Four companies are new to the section this year. One of these is International Flavors & Fragrances, Inc., a major producer of aroma and flavoring chemicals. The other three are moderate-size producers of industrial and specialty chemicals: Essex Chemical Corp., Lawter Chemicals, Inc., and Millmaster Onyx Corp. These four replace Duval Corp., Sinclair Oil Corp., U.S. Borax & Chemical Corp., and Wallace & Tiernan, Inc., all of which have been acquired by other companies in the past year. Several companies listed previously have changed their names. In some cases, this has been the result of a major merger. Thus the former Kawecki Chemical Co. now is Kawecki Berylco ...