# Natural Sciences Managers

US SOC code 11-9121. Markdown version of https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/11-9121

Also called: R&D manager, Research director, Director of research, Lab manager, Director of R&D.

## In brief

In May 2025, [BLS](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip) counted **108,690** US natural sciences managers, with median pay of **$167,220** a year. Of the BLS counts since 2003, the May 2025 count is the highest. The earliest figure here is [an estimate](https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/general-electric-opens-research-laboratory) of **3,000** from 1920, not measured the same way as today's count. The last full technology era for natural sciences managers: ELN, project management software, research intelligence platforms, 2000 to 2018.

## What the sources say

### Official outlook

BLS projects employment to grow 8.2% from 2025 to 2035. Source: [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=11-9121&ioType=o).

### AI exposure studies

- **56.7%** of this job's tasks are exposed to large language models. Not a forecast of job losses. [Eloundou and others, 2023](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv)

Data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35. BLS publishes these counts as yearly survey snapshots and cautions against reading them as a precise trend. In May 2021 BLS changed how it estimates these counts (a model-based method using three years of survey data) and moved fully to the 2018 occupation codes, so part of a change across 2021 can come from the method rather than the work.

## Natural Sciences Managers employment and pay by year

- On record since: 1876
- Latest US employment: 108,690 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [4]
- Latest US median pay: $167,220 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [7]
- Outlook: +8.2% by 2035. Source: BLS Employment Projections 2025-35 [20]

### All 29 years of cited US data

| Year | US employment | Annual pay (median unless marked) | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1920 | 3,000 (estimate) | n/a | Est., EBSCO Research Starters [1] |
| 1950 | 18,000 (estimate) | n/a | Est., BLS Bulletin 1781 (1973) [2] |
| 1960 | n/a | $10,500 (estimate) | Est., NSF [5] |
| 1970 | 55,000 (estimate) | n/a | Est., BLS Bulletin 1781 (1973) [2] |
| 1980 | n/a | $38,000 (estimate) | Est., NSF [6] |
| 1990 | 70,000 (estimate) | n/a | Est., National Science Foundation [3] |
| 2003 | 41,810 | $85,860 | BLS OEWS May 2003 [4] |
| 2004 | 40,240 | $88,660 | BLS OEWS May 2004 [4] |
| 2005 | 40,400 | $93,090 | BLS OEWS May 2005 [4] |
| 2006 | 38,660 | $100,080 | BLS OEWS May 2006 [4] |
| 2007 | 39,370 | $104,040 | BLS OEWS May 2007 [4] |
| 2008 | 43,060 | $112,800 | BLS OEWS May 2008 [4] |
| 2009 | 44,180 | $114,560 | BLS OEWS May 2009 [4] |
| 2010 | 45,920 | $116,020 | BLS OEWS May 2010 [4] |
| 2011 | 47,510 | $114,770 | BLS OEWS May 2011 [4] |
| 2012 | 48,560 | $115,730 | BLS OEWS May 2012 [4] |
| 2013 | 51,900 | $116,840 | BLS OEWS May 2013 [4] |
| 2014 | 53,290 | $120,050 | BLS OEWS May 2014 [4] |
| 2015 | 53,450 | $120,160 | BLS OEWS May 2015 [4] |
| 2016 | 54,780 | $119,850 | BLS OEWS May 2016 [4] |
| 2017 | 56,210 | $118,970 | BLS OEWS May 2017 [4] |
| 2018 | 60,260 | $123,860 | BLS OEWS May 2018 [4] |
| 2019 | 67,720 | $129,100 | BLS OEWS May 2019 [4] |
| 2020 | 75,870 | $137,940 | BLS OEWS May 2020 [4] |
| 2021 | 74,760 | $137,900 | BLS OEWS May 2021 [4] |
| 2022 | 82,570 | $144,440 | BLS OEWS May 2022 [4] |
| 2023 | 96,520 | $157,740 | BLS OEWS May 2023 [4] |
| 2024 | 100,870 | $161,180 | BLS OEWS May 2024 [4] |
| 2025 | 108,690 | $167,220 | BLS OEWS May 2025 [4] |

## Sources (80)

### Employment series

1. [General Electric Opens Research Laboratory — EBSCO Research Starters (GE lab founding and scale, 1900-1920)](https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/general-electric-opens-research-laboratory), EBSCO Research Starters
2. [BLS Bulletin 1781 (1973) — Employment of Scientists and Engineers 1950-70 (FRASER / St. Louis Fed)](https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/employment-scientists-engineers-1950-70-4723/fulltext), Bureau of Labor Statistics / FRASER
3. [NSF Science and Engineering Indicators 1991 — National Science Board (scientists and managers trends)](https://ncses.nsf.gov/browse-library?dataCollection=Science%20and%20Engineering%20Indicators), National Science Foundation
4. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [2003](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm03nat.zip), [2004](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm04nat.zip), [2005](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm05nat.zip), [2006](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm06nat.zip), [2007](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm07nat.zip), [2008](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm08nat.zip), [2009](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm09nat.zip), [2010](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm10nat.zip), [2011](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm11nat.zip), [2012](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm12nat.zip), [2013](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm13nat.zip), [2014](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm14nat.zip), [2015](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm15nat.zip), [2016](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm16nat.zip), [2017](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm17nat.zip), [2018](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm18nat.zip), [2019](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm19nat.zip), [2020](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm20nat.zip), [2021](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm21nat.zip), [2022](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22nat.zip), [2023](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm23nat.zip), [2024](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm24nat.zip), [2025](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip)

### Wage series

5. [NSF — History of NSF and science funding, 1950s-1960s (NSF About page: salary and employment context)](https://www.nsf.gov/about/history), National Science Foundation
6. [NSF — Scientists, Engineers and Technicians series (salary context for research managers, 1970s-1980s)](https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf25332), National Science Foundation / NCSES
7. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [2003](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm03nat.zip), [2004](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm04nat.zip), [2005](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm05nat.zip), [2006](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm06nat.zip), [2007](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm07nat.zip), [2008](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm08nat.zip), [2009](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm09nat.zip), [2010](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm10nat.zip), [2011](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm11nat.zip), [2012](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm12nat.zip), [2013](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm13nat.zip), [2014](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm14nat.zip), [2015](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm15nat.zip), [2016](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm16nat.zip), [2017](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm17nat.zip), [2018](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm18nat.zip), [2019](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm19nat.zip), [2020](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm20nat.zip), [2021](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm21nat.zip), [2022](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22nat.zip), [2023](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm23nat.zip), [2025](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip)
8. [BLS OEWS May 2024, national cross-industry estimates (flat file)](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm24nat.zip), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

### Tool eras

9. [ETHW — Thomas Edison at Menlo Park (lab management structure, 1876-1882)](https://ethw.org/Thomas_Edison_at_Menlo_Park), Engineering and Technology History Wiki
10. [EBSCO Research Starters — General Electric Opens Research Laboratory (Willis Whitney, GE Research, 1900)](https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/general-electric-opens-research-laboratory), EBSCO Research Starters
11. [Bell Labs — Wikipedia (Bell Labs formation 1925, Jewett as first president)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_Labs), Wikipedia
12. [NCBI Bookshelf — Scientists and Scientific Organizations in Mid-Century America (National Academy of Sciences history)](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK217880/), National Academies Press / NCBI
13. [NSF — A Brief Annotated History of Federal R&D Obligations: FYs 1951-2024 (NCSES, R&D management context)](https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf25332), National Science Foundation / NCSES
14. [Works in Progress — "The rise and fall of the American R&D lab" (industrial research management history)](https://worksinprogress.co/issue/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-american-rd-lab/), Works in Progress Magazine
15. [Benchling — R&D cloud platform for life sciences research (ELN and lab management, 2024)](https://www.benchling.com/), Benchling
16. [Dimensions.ai — research intelligence platform (164M+ publications, 170M+ patents, landscape analysis)](https://www.dimensions.ai), Dimensions / Digital Science
17. [AlphaFold DB — DeepMind AlphaFold protein structure database (200M+ structure predictions, open access 2022)](https://alphafold.ebi.ac.uk/), DeepMind / EMBL-EBI
18. [NIH PMC — "From Lab to Clinic: How AI is Reshaping Drug Discovery Timelines" (Insilico Medicine case, 18-month timeline)](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12298131/), NIH PubMed Central
19. [Labguru AI — AI-assisted ELN: protocol conversion, deviation alerts, compliance documentation (2024)](https://www.labguru.com/ai), Labguru

### Forecasts and exposure studies

20. [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35, National Employment Matrix: 11-9121 Natural sciences managers (2025: 112.2 thousand; 2035: 121.5 thousand; +8.2%)](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=11-9121&ioType=o), Bureau of Labor Statistics
21. [Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), "GPTs are GPTs", occupation-level exposure data occ\_level.csv (O\*NET-SOC 11-9121.00, human-rated β 0.567)](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv), OpenAI

### Historical notes

22. [ETHW — Thomas Edison at Menlo Park (1876 opening, staffing, and research philosophy)](https://ethw.org/Thomas_Edison_at_Menlo_Park), Engineering and Technology History Wiki
23. [EBSCO Research Starters — General Electric Opens Research Laboratory (December 15, 1900)](https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/general-electric-opens-research-laboratory), EBSCO Research Starters
24. [Bell Labs — Wikipedia (January 1, 1925 incorporation; Jewett as first president)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_Labs), Wikipedia
25. [BLS Bulletin 1781 (1973) — Employment of Scientists and Engineers 1950-70 (FRASER / St. Louis Fed)](https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/employment-scientists-engineers-1950-70-4723/fulltext), Bureau of Labor Statistics / FRASER
26. [NSF — About NSF history (Bayh-Dole Act and the transformation of university research management)](https://www.nsf.gov/about/history), National Science Foundation
27. [AlphaFold Protein Structure Database -- DeepMind / EMBL-EBI (200M+ structures, open access)](https://alphafold.ebi.ac.uk/), DeepMind / EMBL-EBI

### Predecessors & successors

28. [ETHW — Thomas Edison at Menlo Park (first industrial research management model, 1876)](https://ethw.org/Thomas_Edison_at_Menlo_Park), Engineering and Technology History Wiki
29. [NCBI Bookshelf — Scientists and Scientific Organizations in Mid-Century America (academic-to-industrial manager pipeline)](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK217880/), National Academies Press / NCBI

### Present-day analysis

- [O\*NET 30.3 — Natural Sciences Managers (11-9121.00): tasks, knowledge, wages](https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/11-9121.00), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Eloundou et al. 2024 — GPTs are GPTs (Science): occupational LLM exposure framework](https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Labguru — AI features for lab management: Protocol Conversion Agent, Automation Agent, AI Assistant](https://www.labguru.com/ai), accessed 2026-05-24
- [SciNote — AI and Automations for electronic lab notebooks and research workflow](https://www.scinote.net/), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Grantable — AI grant-writing platform: funder matching, proposal drafting, pipeline tracking](https://grantable.co), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Dimensions.ai — Research intelligence platform: landscape analysis, portfolio management, research security](https://www.dimensions.ai), accessed 2026-05-24
- [ResearchRabbit — AI literature discovery: 270M+ papers, visual topic mapping, automated tracking](https://www.researchrabbit.ai), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Semantic Scholar — AI-powered research discovery and Semantic Reader](https://www.semanticscholar.org), accessed 2026-05-24

How to read these figures: https://futurehistory.earth/methodology. Every figure links to its own source; gaps stay gaps.