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During the recent economic downturn, media and industry reports of skill shortages in the trades continued to appear. The intent of this paper is to examine the evidence for skill shortages in the trades persisting during the economic downturns over the last 20 years, using various indicators. These include employment growth, vacancy rates, unemployment rates, apprentice completions and occupational mobility. This paper contains the following key messages: (1) There is no evidence of persistent skill shortages during downturns in the construction, automotive and engineering trades, and unconvincing evidence of persistent shortages in the electrotechnology and telecommunications trades, the food trades and hairdressing; (2) Declining numbers of apprenticeship completions account for much of the persistent shortage in the electrotechnology and telecommunications trades during the 1990s and 2000s, but apprenticeship completions (expressed as a proportion of employment) for this trade have now recovered to pre-1992 levels. If recent completion numbers are maintained, it should be possible to avoid future skill shortages; and (3) Very high job churn creates the perception of persistent skill shortages in the food trades and in hairdressing. Many food tradespersons and hairdressers swap employers but remain in their occupation. Two appendices are included. (Contains 22 tables, 21 figures and 4 footnotes.)

This paper provides a comprehensive overview of adolescent career plans reported in PISA 2006. Its main focus is on the differences in the status and area of employment expected by girls and boys in high school. In almost all countries, girls lead boys in their interest in non-manual, high status professional occupations. This can be seen as a vertical dimension of gender segregation in occupational preferences. Students also differ by gender in selecting particular fields of employment within status categories. These differences make up the horizontal segregation of students' expectations and, in PISA 2006, are prominent in the gendered choices of specific subfields of science. Both the vertical and the horizontal dimensions must be considered to appreciate the cultural and institutional factors which promote and reinforce systematic divides in career choices of adolescent boys and girls. Appended are: (1) Additional descriptive tables; (2) Occupational titles comprising science, engineering/computing and health employment; (3) Plans to enter socio-cultural professions; (4) Missing data; and (5) Additional information on methods. (Contains 8 figures, 18 tables and 2 footnotes.)

This paper presents the first results of a project initiated in 2004 by the OECD in collaboration with Eurostat and the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, and aimed at developing a regular and internationally comparable production system of indicators on the careers and mobility of doctorate holders. A first data collection was launched in September 2005, from which the results for seven countries are presented here. These data shed light on the main demographic, educational, labour market and mobility patterns of doctoral graduates. They also mark some progress in the understanding of both the measurement issues and patterns of international mobility, notably by the use of qualitative indicators such as the intentions or reasons for mobility. The results show in particular that the share of doctorate holders in the population or labour force is two or three times larger in Germany and Switzerland than in Australia, Canada and the United States. In these five countries, women represent only one-quarter to one-third of doctorate holders. The United States has an older population of doctorate holders than the other countries analysed in the paper and this population is still aging, as is also the case in Canada. Unemployment rates of doctorate holders remain low, but are relatively higher in natural sciences and in engineering. There are important salary differences between men and women and across sectors, especially in the United States. In the United States, as well as in Portugal and Argentina, salary is one of the main reasons why doctoral graduates are dissatisfied with their employment situation. There is a high share of foreign doctorate holders in Switzerland and also a higher share of foreign-born doctorate holders in Canada and Australia than in the United States. Many foreigners, however, come to work to the United States having been trained for research abroad and this trend has grown stronger in recent years. On the other hand, very few doctorate holders from the United States are internationally mobile. Among mobile young Canadian citizens, three-quarters choose the United States as their next destination. (Data tables are annexed. Contains 4 footnotes, 13 figures, 1 chart and 35 tables.)

As part of its mandate from Congress, the National Science Board oversees the collection of a very broad set of quantitative information about U.S. science, engineering and technology, and every 2 years publishes the data and trends in its "Science and Engineering Indicators" ("Indicators") report. On occasion, the data reveal trends that raise important policy concerns that the Board believes should be brought to the attention of the President, Congress, and the public as a "companion" policy statement to the "Indicators" report. Data presented in "Science and Engineering Indicators 2010" (NSB-10-01) illuminate trends and directions in global science and technology. The U.S. has long been a world leader in S&E (science and engineering) research and high-technology industry, but comparative international data in "Indicators 2010" underscore the sometimes rapidly growing competitiveness of other economies in these important areas. While increased global S&E research capacity holds great promise for the advancement of scientific knowledge and collaboration in science and engineering across international borders, the U.S. government must be attentive to developments in S&E capacity around the world, and take proactive steps to maintain this nation's competitive strength. In this companion piece to "Indicators 2010, Globalization of Science and Engineering Research", the National Science Board examines currently available data and trends and recommends the following Federal actions: (1) To ensure that the U.S. remains a world leader in S&E research, the National Science Foundation--the only non-mission-oriented Federal agency that funds S&E research--should assess its two merit review criteria for funding of S&E research to ensure that the criteria encourage the proposing and support of truly transformative research, and should modify the criteria and/or merit review process if the assessment finds modifications necessary to accomplish this goal; (2) The Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President, through the National Science and Technology Council mechanism, should engage all Federal agencies involved with S&E research to: (a) develop means to assess or continue to assess the quality of their agency's supported research against international activities, and (b) identify and as appropriate make adjustments necessary to ensure that their agency's research is world-leading; and (3) The Office of Science and Technology Policy should call for a President's Council on Innovation and Competitiveness as described in the COMPETES (Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science) Act. Issues for discussion would include: (a) relationships between U.S. and foreign-supported R&D to ensure continued vitality and growth of U.S. technical strength, (b) safeguarding national interests in intellectual property, (c) ensuring that the U.S. economy benefits from R&D supported abroad, and (d) assessing critical research areas for which the U.S. should be the global R&D leader. (Contains 5 figures and 1 table.) [For the related reports, see "Key Science and Engineering Indicators: 2010 Digest" (ED514059) and "Science and Engineering Indicators 2010" (ED514060).]

Because of the uncertainty related to water resources development projects, and because of the multitude of factors influencing their performance, the systems analysis approach is often used as an instrument in the planning and design process. The approach will also yield good results in the programming of the maintenance and management of the engineering works. Definitions, characteristics, and a short history of the systems approach to water resources development are discussed in chapter 1. Manpower needs are considered in chapter 2. Systems analysis in curricula for hydrologists and engineers (focusing on undergraduate programs for civil engineers and post-graduate programs) are discussed in chapter 3. Subjects which are important, if not essential, for systems analysis of water resources are reviewed in chapter 4. These subjects include political science, economics, engineering economy, project financing, mathematics, computer programming, and statistics. Use of problem work and case studies as well as integration with design work, cooperation among disciplines, and management games are discussed in the fifth and last chapter. (BC)

Engineering students can use a humanistic research project on the poetry of Walt Whitman as the basis for a technical report. Students must first become familiar with the scientific method so that they will have a general procedure for gathering and analyzing data for the project. To use the scientific method, students isolate the problem, observe evidence in order to form a hypothesis, devise an experiment or project that will allow them to collect objective data, and formulate a theory to account for the data gathered. After students understand how to use the scientific method, they must learn the general format for scientific or technical reports. In the Whitman project, students tabulate and analyze data on the vocabulary he uses in "Leaves of Grass," and then write a short technical report that presents the results of their analysis. The project demonstrates the possibility of meaningful interaction between the sciences and humanities. (Additional assignments and exercises are included throughout the text.) (MM)

This paper presents the rules and guidelines of the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair 2011 to be held in Los Angeles, California in May 8-13, 2011. In addition to providing the rules of competition, these rules and guidelines for conducting research were developed to facilitate the following: (1) protect the rights and welfare of the student researcher and human subjects; (2) protect the health and well-being of vertebrate animal subjects; (3) follow federal regulations governing research; (4) offer guidance to affiliated fairs; (5) use safe laboratory practices; and (6) address environmental concerns. [This guide was created by the Society for Science & the Public.]