Chemical engineering remains one of the best-paying professions in the UK with salaries rising by 30% over the last decade. The IChemE's 2004 Salary Survey shows that income trends are continuing to keep pace with inflation. The full dataset may be purchased from IChemE Rugby, but some main points are:

• Salaries - a chemical engineer can expect his or her salary to double over the course of a twenty year career.
• Chartered Engineers - Chartered Engineers earn more than non-chartered people. The M.Eng. degree here at Cambridge satisfies the academic requirements for full IChemE membership leading to Chartered Engineer status.
• Benefit packages - more than 50% of chemical engineers receive company final salary pensions and other benefits such as medical insurance
• Women - the earnings gap between men and women is narrowing

The survey contains an analysis of over 4000 returns submitted by chemical and process engineers in the UK and Eire, and provides a detailed picture of remuneration packages broken down by age, gender, sector, geographical region and level of responsibility.

It does not include graduate chemical engineers who choose other careers but who are also highly employable.