What's going on is that companies don't want to pay an inexperienced chemist to learn on the job; they want to hire an experienced chemical engineer for a disco

What's going on is that companies don't want to pay an inexperienced chemist to learn on the job; they want to hire an experienced chemical engineer for a discount. This is happening all over the sciences. Drug companies routinely have jobs open (while they're laying off senior research staff elsewhere...), but good luck getting one of those jobs as a new PhD grad. It's almost as hard -- perhaps harder -- to get a "scientist" position at a drug company as it is to get a faculty position in academia. Think about that.