Credit crunch could boost science sector: analysts

Credit crunch could boost science sector: analysts

The global financial crisis could boost recruitment to science and engineering firms as young high-fliers shun Wall Street for the lab, analysts say.

With thousands of job cuts at investment banks and hiring freezes at others, school-leavers and maths and science graduates could be increasingly attracted to the world of research and development.

"The glamour of the Wall Street jobs is gone, and that leaves more room for science and technology," said Georges Haour, a professor of technology and innovation management at the IMD business school in Lausanne, Switzerland.

"Although the salaries are not the same, the salaries (in finance) are zero because people are being fired," he told AFP.

Britain's government has also marked the financial crisis as an opportunity to boost science and technology.

Science minister Lord Paul Drayson last month urged scientists who went to work in the City of London financial district to switch to teaching science subjects or science-related businesses.

"My message to them is: You have been a rocket scientist in the City, now become a real scientist again," he told the Financial Times.

As a sign of the importance the government attaches to science, Drayson is one of a small handful of junior ministers who attend Cabinet meetings.

The country's demand for engineers is also illustrated by its "Shortage Occupation List" -- jobs for which there are shortfalls in the British labour market.

Though there is only one occupation category in the finance industry in which there is a need, actuaries, there are 31 different categories of engineers or engineering specialists that are seen as being in demand.

Major financial firms around the world, meanwhile, have shed large numbers of jobs in recent months, as the global credit crunch has hammered several lenders.

Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse has cut 2,000 jobs since the financial crisis began. UBS has cut 6,000 jobs in a year. HSBC is to cut 1,100 jobs globally and German bank WestLB forecasts up to 1,500 job losses.

They might not earn quite as much in the science sector: while Britain's biggest defence manufacturer BAE Systems pays its graduateds up to 27,500 pounds (43,300 dollars, 34,000 euros) a year, university-leavers entering the world of finance used to be able to command upwards of 30,000 pounds annually.

But Haour said that, in his discussions with the presidents of universities around the world, they had reported increases in applications for technology-related courses.

For example, he noted that the University of Tokyo had seen a "big surge" in applications for engineering and science. "The young ones adapt very quickly. They see what's going on, they draw conclusions," Haour said.

Elspeth Farrar, head of the careers service at Imperial College, London -- one of the world's premier maths and science universities -- said the downturn was perhaps good news for the science sector.

"Engineering companies who, in the past, have struggled to recruit the numbers they really want, this year might be a good year for them," she said.

While it would take time for hard evidence to become available, "inevitably there are going to be fewer jobs directly in the finance and banking sector," she added.

"So I think automatically that will mean more science and engineering students will be thinking about continuing in their sectors.

"The students, they see the news, they know what's going on -- inevitably they must realise that it's possibly going to be an even more competitive market to get into banking," she said.

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