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Job outlook for quality control-associate scientists in the United States
Quality control-associate scientist job growth summary. After extensive research, interviews, and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
The projected quality control-associate scientist job growth rate is 6% from 2018-2028.
About 5,700 new jobs for quality control-associate scientists are projected over the next decade.
Quality control-associate scientist salaries have increased 14% for quality control-associate scientists in the last 5 years.
There are over 21,658 quality control-associate scientists currently employed in the United States.
There are 125,570 active quality control-associate scientist job openings in the US.
The average quality control-associate scientist salary is $77,890.
Are quality control-associate scientist jobs in demand?
Quality control-associate scientist job and salary trends over time
Quality control-associate scientist jobs over time
Quality control-associate scientist job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 21,658 | 0.01% |
| 2020 | 21,885 | 0.01% |
| 2019 | 22,398 | 0.01% |
| 2018 | 22,708 | 0.01% |
| 2017 | 23,034 | 0.01% |
Average quality control-associate scientist salary over time
Quality control-associate scientist salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $77,890 | $37.45 | +3.8% |
| 2024 | $75,054 | $36.08 | +1.8% |
| 2023 | $73,748 | $35.46 | +3.3% |
| 2022 | $71,402 | $34.33 | +4.5% |
| 2021 | $68,358 | $32.86 | +1.6% |
Quality control-associate scientist jobs by state
Most common states for quality control-associate scientists
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Hampshire | 1,342,795 | 457 | 34% |
| 2 | Delaware | 961,939 | 303 | 31% |
| 3 | Maryland | 6,052,177 | 1,730 | 29% |
| 4 | Virginia | 8,470,020 | 2,162 | 26% |
| 5 | Minnesota | 5,576,606 | 1,347 | 24% |
| 6 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 164 | 24% |
| 7 | New Jersey | 9,005,644 | 2,049 | 23% |
| 8 | Utah | 3,101,833 | 719 | 23% |
| 9 | Rhode Island | 1,059,639 | 239 | 23% |
| 10 | Vermont | 623,657 | 141 | 23% |
| 11 | North Carolina | 10,273,419 | 2,259 | 22% |
| 12 | North Dakota | 755,393 | 167 | 22% |
| 13 | South Dakota | 869,666 | 182 | 21% |
| 14 | Wisconsin | 5,795,483 | 1,167 | 20% |
| 15 | Connecticut | 3,588,184 | 722 | 20% |
| 16 | Wyoming | 579,315 | 114 | 20% |
| 17 | Pennsylvania | 12,805,537 | 2,461 | 19% |
| 18 | Oregon | 4,142,776 | 798 | 19% |
| 19 | Illinois | 12,802,023 | 2,285 | 18% |
| 20 | Indiana | 6,666,818 | 1,218 | 18% |
Most common cities for quality control-associate scientists
| Rank | City | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Woburn | 1 | 3% | $85,769 |
| 2 | Severn | 1 | 2% | $84,500 |
| 3 | New Haven | 1 | 1% | $90,960 |
| 4 | Fremont | 1 | 0% | $111,511 |
| 5 | San Diego | 1 | 0% | $95,686 |
Quality Control-Associate Scientist job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of quality control-associate scientist experts
California State University - East Bay
Ohio Dominican University
University of the Pacific
Northern Kentucky University
Southwestern College
Quinnipiac University
University of Illinois at Springfield
College of Idaho
SUNY at Albany
Ohio University Southern
Wake Forest University
University of Utah
Meredith College
Boston College
Point Loma Nazarene University
Drexel University
University of New Hampshire
What general advice would you give to a Quality Control-Associate Scientist?
John Richardson: Skills? Well, both hard and soft... Obviously, you will need to have the basic lab and knowledge skills that would be expected of a competent chemistry graduate. Yes, your new employer will spend time training you in the specific skills that pertain to your new job, but basic knowledge and skill sets (e.g., pipetting, calculating dilution factors, having baseline knowledge of common instrumentation) will be expected. As for soft skills, be friendly, cooperative, and curious. Extend these character traits to both your peers and supervisors. Other useful skills that my former students mention would be having some basic knowledge of business and perhaps coding.
What general advice would you give to a Quality Control-Associate Scientist?
Monika Sommerhalter: Know your worth and look for opportunities to grow. Set yourself professional goals, whether it is a large goal (such as getting a promotion) or smaller goals (attending a workshop to master a new skill) on an ongoing basis. Keep your resume up-to-date so that it is easier for you to apply for new job opportunities within or outside of your company.
What Quality Control-Associate Scientist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Monika Sommerhalter: Expand and take care of your professional network throughout your career. Start by keeping in touch with your peers and mentors from university. Personal connections can help you find more job openings and professional development opportunities. If you surround yourself with a supportive professional network, your career path will also feel more rewarding.
What will help Quality Control-Associate Scientists increase their earning potential?
Monika Sommerhalter: The skill of learning itself! Being able to acquire new skills will become more important as technological progress speeds up. With more automation and machine assisted analysis, more data will be generated. The ability to distinguish relevant and meaningful information from superfluous data without getting overwhelmed will therefore also matter. Communication skills will always be relevant. Research and production teams need group members who can communicate their findings in an efficient and clear manner. With respect to Chemistry: Most analytical chemistry techniques, for example High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), will remain important for many years to come, but there will always be extensions and new developments, such as Ultra(HPLC) and new chromatography materials and detection methods. Having a solid foundation and to understand the basic principles of essential laboratory techniques in Chemistry combined with a curious and open mind to appreciate or even come-up with novel developments is a great recipe for success!
What will help Quality Control-Associate Scientists increase their earning potential?
Dr. Christopher Martin: If you are a new chemistry graduate beginning your career as a chemist, understand that you are no longer going to be studying chemistry just to take a test and talk about how someone may hypothetically do chemistry. You will be expected to apply the fundamentals you learned and actually do chemistry. You may need to call upon skills in classes and labs that you didn't expect to use, and you may be trained in a new area or using new instrumentation that you have not seen before. Different fields in chemistry call on different skills, but skills are transferrable and skills will be what makes you valuable.
What will help Quality Control-Associate Scientists increase their earning potential?
Dr. Jingbo Liu PhD: A chemist’s day-to-day tasks vary greatly depending on their specific role and field. However, everyday tasks include designing and conducting experiments, analyzing data, writing reports, and maintaining safety protocols in the laboratory. Someone entering the field might start as a laboratory assistant or technician, preparing samples, maintaining equipment, and assisting with experiments and research. They could also be involved in data analysis, using various software tools to interpret and visualize experimental results. Furthermore, they may participate in team meetings to discuss their findings and plan future research directions. It’s a dynamic and exciting field with plenty of opportunities for learning and growth.
What will help Quality Control-Associate Scientists increase their earning potential?
Joseph Harrison: Chemists typically like using their problem-solving skills to advance science, but sometimes Chemists, especially in entry-level positions can be repetitive (i.e., doing the same analysis over and over again)
What Quality Control-Associate Scientist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Patrick Hare: Don’t just look for ‘chemist’ positions. A chemistry degree sets you up to do lots of different things under lots of different names. Once you get a job, keep networking (or if you haven’t done so, start)! Your first position won’t be your last, and having a group you can tap for help getting the next job or just figuring out problems that arise in the current one is very useful.
What will help Quality Control-Associate Scientists increase their earning potential?
Patrick Hare: Facility with using and interpreting AI results is an obvious growing need. Many of those skills are just applied analytical and critical thinking. The trick will be to do the applying and keep them fresh. Understanding how the systems work will also be useful.
What Quality Control-Associate Scientist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
David Hecht Ph.D.: Not sure- with a solid chemistry bkg and training, graduates should be equipped to learn and adapt as needed. Soft skills are VERY important and need to be developed.
What will help Quality Control-Associate Scientists increase their earning potential?
David Hecht Ph.D.: Work to stay positive and have a 'can do' attitude. Be willing to take on new tasks, responsibilities and try to go the 'extra mile'. Don't be afraid to say you do not know how to do something, but are willing to learn.
Changqing Chen Ph.D.
Associate ProfessorWhat will help Quality Control-Associate Scientists increase their earning potential?
Changqing Chen Ph.D.: Try to develop some business skills on product marketing and sales. Try to apply your scientific and engineering skills to business and become an all-around player.
Lisa Cuchara Ph.D.
Professor of Biomedical SciencesQuinnipiac University
Microbiological Sciences And Immunology
What Quality Control-Associate Scientist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Lisa Cuchara Ph.D.: The first and foremost would be Critical Thinking. We live in a world where facts can be easily acquired, sometimes even by asking Siri/Alexa/ChatGPT/Google/etc. But critical thinking is timeless and priceless. I can ask anyone on the street what xyz is and they can look it up, but can they provide advice or interpret.
Also being a good steward towards science and being willing and able to communicate not just with peers as we are trained, but also with the public, the politicians, the board members. John Holdren*, stated that Scientists should be tithing at least 10 percent of their time to public service ... including activism. In the ever growing science denialism that is happening in our country being able to communicate science with the public is important. As Peter Hotaz states, "Anti-science propaganda is "killing Americans in unprecedented numbers,""
*Holdren is an American scientist who served as the senior advisor to President Barack Obama on science and technology issues through his roles as assistant to the president for science and technology, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and co-chair of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and a Research Professor in Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government
Marc Klingshirn Ph.D.
Associate Professor of ChemistryUniversity of Illinois at Springfield
Chemistry
What Quality Control-Associate Scientist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Marc Klingshirn Ph.D.: People are drawn to science for various reasons, but many enjoy science-related fields due to the discovery aspect. Science continually to leads to new questions and subsequent answers that help us understand the world around us, which can be exciting. At the same time, that discovery leads to constant change, which can lead to frustration. We tend to like clear-cut answers that are black and white. That doesn't always happen in science. That ambiguity then has tendencies to make those outside of the profession question the validity of science, which in turn is frustrating to those who are actively engaged because they feel their work is deemed false.
What general advice would you give to a Quality Control-Associate Scientist?
Bonnie Cantrell: Chemistry is the backbone to most protocols for the material, medical, and biological sciences.
Without chemistry, we would not know many of the things we know today. It will always be relevant in
helping change the scientific world as we know it. The advancements in science technology alone makes
chemistry today more exciting than ever. Just with balances from 1980's to now, we went from only
being able to weigh with counter balance weights to having a digital scale read accurately to 0.001
milligrams. Chemistry used to be more theoretical and only explainable from what we could make react
together. Now we have technology that can visualize the chemical composition and structure allowing
for us to create solutions to problems we could only dream of before. Whether you are wanting danger,
to save lives, or to help make this planet a better place to live, being a chemist can help you fuel your
passions.
Alan Chen Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Dept of Chemistry & the RNA Institute, University at AlbanySUNY at Albany
Chemistry
What will help Quality Control-Associate Scientists increase their earning potential?
Alan Chen Ph.D.: The core skills required for most chemistry positions will likely be unchanged (i.e. analytical chemistry for QA/QC roles) however desired auxiliary skills might include familiarity with data science, laboratory automation and AI/ML which are all becoming increasingly important in the scientific workplace)
Kyle Kemats Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of InstructionOhio University Southern
Chemistry Department
What hard/technical skills are most important for Quality Control-Associate Scientists?
Kyle Kemats Ph.D.: As I mentioned in question 1, training/experience on various instruments is the most important for industry/research jobs. For teaching positions, experience with different pedagogical/education techniques will be helpful for a potential candidate.
What skills will help Quality Control-Associate Scientists earn the most?
Kyle Kemats Ph.D.: Communication, original thinking, as well as hard skills (training on instruments).
Brian Mendenhall
Associate Director and Career CoachWake Forest University
Office of Personal and Career Development
What skills stand out on Quality Control-Associate Scientist resumes?
Brian Mendenhall: Two things that stand out for me, regardless of whether the person is seeking employment in research or industry, are data analysis (Excel, Python, R) and presentation skills. Research specific skills would also include experimental design and specific relevant laboratory techniques & equipment experience.
What soft skills should all Quality Control-Associate Scientists possess?
Brian Mendenhall: In the past, the most important attributes have been leadership and problem-solving skills. If the pandemic has taught us anything, the most important attribute is the ability to work with others and get along in multiple virtual and in-person environments. The rest seem elementary and are all dependent on each other. To work well on a team, you need to problem-solve, both on the topic and on how to share information. To solve problems, you need to be analytical and quantitative. Certainly, to do this well, you need to communicate across diverse audiences and levels of understanding. The National Association of Colleges and Employers surveys employers on these priorities and updates the results frequently. (see below for your reference)
Ability to work in a team 81.0%
Problem-solving skills 79.0%
Analytical/quantitative skills 76.1%
Communication skills (verbal) 73.2%
Communication skills (written)
https://www.naceweb.org/about-us/press/the-key-attributes-employers-seek-on-college-graduates-resumes/
Shelley Minteer Ph.D.
Dale and Susan Poulter Endowed Chair in Biological Chemistry, Associate Chair of ChemistryUniversity of Utah
Department Of Chemistry
What skills stand out on Quality Control-Associate Scientist resumes?
Shelley Minteer Ph.D.: The skills that stand out are research experience, characterization instrumentation experience, and more recently, data science experience and coding experience, as machine learning and AI become more and more important in chemistry.
What soft skills should all Quality Control-Associate Scientists possess?
Shelley Minteer Ph.D.: The most important soft skills are communication and people management skills. It is critical to be strong in both oral and written communication.
Alexandra (Sasha) Ormond Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Chemistry, Director of Dual Degree EngineeringMeredith College
Department of Chemistry, Physics, and Geoscience
What general advice would you give to a Quality Control-Associate Scientist?
Alexandra (Sasha) Ormond Ph.D.: Chemistry graduates should be open minded, and ready to absorb and use information. They should be confident in themselves, and since they're still learning, they should not hesitate to ask for help and advice. If students haven't learned how to fail, they should go into a career ready for potential failures, and they will need to be ready to handle failures and move on.
What Quality Control-Associate Scientist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Alexandra (Sasha) Ormond Ph.D.: Having hands-on experience through research, internships, and working with instruments can make a candidate more attractive to employers. Pursuing a Master's or Ph.D. degree can also lead to a higher starting salary, although the job opportunities may differ based on the level of education.
Dunwei Wang Ph.D.
Margaret A & Thomas A Vanderslice Chair in Chemistry, Professor of Chemistry, Chairperson of Chemistry DepartmentBoston College
Chemistry Department
What soft skills should all Quality Control-Associate Scientists possess?
Dunwei Wang Ph.D.: Problem-solving skills. When presented with a problem, knowing where to go to find information to solve it.
What hard/technical skills are most important for Quality Control-Associate Scientists?
Dunwei Wang Ph.D.: Chemistry is a diverse field. As a foundational discipline, it enables several sub-fields and supports emerging new fields. As one example, our graduates become experts in medical research, health care, and scientists and engineers in many other fields. Depending on the different career goals, what is important can be drastically different. Generally speaking, doing bench work (either in the lab or on a computer) should be a good skill to have at graduation.
What skills will help Quality Control-Associate Scientists earn the most?
Dunwei Wang Ph.D.: Earnings right after graduation aren't really a great way of measuring success; short-term gains in earnings may not serve the goal of long-term growth well.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Quality Control-Associate Scientists?
Dr. Matthieu Rouffet Ph.D.: We have tried to avoid that as much as possible. Still, we know that for one semester (Fall 2020), students did not acquire many hands-on skills in chemistry courses because everything was done remotely. We are not quite sure if this will have an enduring impact on graduates as we have tried to play "catch up" this semester, but it may well have. Another aspect to consider, in my opinion, is the increased level of stress, anxiety, and depression linked to isolation which might also impact our graduates.
What technical skills for a Quality Control-Associate Scientist stand out to employers?
Dr. Matthieu Rouffet Ph.D.: Our PLNU graduates have a lot of hands-on experience (most courses have a lab component, and many of our students do summer research with a faculty member for two summers allowing them to spend over 800 hours in a lab), so employers regularly comment on the fact that they are ready to go from day one.
What are the biggest trends we'll see in the Quality Control-Associate Scientist job market given the pandemic?
Dr. Richard Knight Ph.D.: Based on a relatively small Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) class size (20-30 students), there appear to be an increased number of graduating students going into industrial rotational programs (Greene Tweed, J&J, etc.), and also of post-baccalaureate students pursuing graduate school opportunities, mostly PhD programs. Some employers offer financial support for graduate studies, such as a part-time technical MS or an MBA. These trends are likely to grow as employers seek to invest in new hires in order to add technical and business skills and also to retain new hires.
Jobs at larger, well established, companies are likely more attractive to current graduating students since they offer longer term job security than jobs in smaller companies. Startups are perceived as riskier, especially by students with loan repayments to make,
Drexel is a co-op school, and the majority of MSE majors complete three 6-month co-op jobs in industry during their 5-years of study, thus graduating with 18 months of hands-on, experiential learning. For the MSE class of 2020, 7 out of 9 students who had jobs prior to graduation reported them as being jobs with a previous co-op employer. Employers clearly value the relationships developed during co-op when hiring into full-time positions.
In terms of expectations from employers, undergraduate students with hands-on laboratory/research experience also tend to do well when seeking employment. Approximately 50 % of Drexel MSE undergraduates engage in undergraduate research during their studies, and some have co-author opportunities on journal publications.
Adaptability, flexibility and the ability to pivot quickly due to changing circumstances are also important skills. During the COVID-19 pandemic, with courses being taught largely remotely, Drexel students have been able to select a Pass/No-Pass option for grades as an alternative to the standard letter grade earned. While this obviously allows students protects a good CUM GPA it may not accurately reflect to prospective employers how well, or poorly, students have performed in their classes given that in many cases the Pass grade for a class can be as low as 50%. Students who have quickly adapted and embraced remote instruction and online learning, as imperfect as these may be, have, in general, done well and maintained good GPAs.
As ever, good written and oral communication skills are highly valued by employers, and can, to an extent, compensate for slight deficiencies in other areas. Enhanced "soft skills" will become increasingly important for new graduates, especially written skills. Employers are typically looking to hire graduates who will "fit in" with their existing corporate structures, and become good "team players".
Student mental health issues have increased noticeably during the pandemic, and are unlikely to abruptly cease upon graduation, so employers will need to become increasingly aware of and provide increased resources and support for new hires as they adjust/adapt to the working environment. One area of particular concern are students who receive ADA Accommodations (e.g. extra time on quizzes and exams, reduced distraction testing environments, etc.) in college. How well are these being handled in industrial environments? Are Universities doing enough to prepare students for the transition?
What certifications/licenses/courses can have the biggest impact for Quality Control-Associate Scientists?
Stephanie Whitney: For our students, having the FE exam under their belt along with our ABET-accredited degree is key.