STEM

STEP 2012Sustaining Excellence in STEM Undergraduate

Education:Toward a Community Of Practice

March, 2012

Nicole Smith

Summary

Total jobs: STEM occupations will grow from 6.8 million to 8 million total jobs by 2018.

Job openings: STEM occupations will provide 2.4 million job openings through 2018, including 1.1 net new jobs and 1.3 replacement jobs due to retirement.

Postsecondary education: 92% of STEM jobs will be for those with at least some postsecondary education and training.

Equity: Diversion of women and minorities is compounded by other factors. For women and minorities, STEM is the best equal opportunity

employer.Although pay gaps exist between minorities and Whites/Asians and

women and men in STEM, they are smaller than in other occupations.

Shortages: We face a chronic shortage in STEM competencies as the demand for STEM talents grows outside traditional STEM jobs.

Challenges

• Recessions accelerate process of skills-biased technological change.

• Jobs that remain, require more and more postsecondary education and training.

• The United States has been underproducing college-educated workers for decades (Goldin/Katz). 

• The undersupply of postsecondary-educated workers has contributed to inefficiency, inequity and mismatch

• If we continue to underproduce college-educated workers, the large and growing gap between the earnings of Americans of different educational attainment will grow even wider.

By 2020, 65% of all jobs in the US will require postsecondary education and training –36% BA+

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Projections of Total Jobs through 2020

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Today, we are more educated than ever: In 1973, 28% of jobs were held by workers with postsecondary

education. By 2020, that number is projected to be 65%

By education type, STEM jobs will predominantly require a Bachelor’s degree or better. Still, about a

third of all STEM jobs will be for those with less than a Bachelor’s degree.

STEM students and workers divert due to differing interest, values as well as for pay.

STEM Diversion: Potential STEM workers divert throughout the transition from student to worker because of differing interests and higher pay in other occupations that utilize STEM competencies.

The U.S. has to produce 5 high school students with top

quartile math scores to get one STEM worker.

The STEM career pathway leverages deep technological knowledge learned in school to access high value technology and learning on the job.

EARNINGS OVERLAP:In a surprising number of cases, people with less

educational attainment earn more than those with more education

This graphic represents just how much earnings overlap there is, relative to the median lifetime earnings of workers with a Bachelor's degree ($2,868,000)

It’s also what you do in college. Your choice of major influences earnings

People with lower levels of education in STEM make more than people with higher levels of education in

non-STEM.

63 percent of Associate’s degrees in STEM earn more than Bachelor’s degrees in non-STEM occupations.

65 percent of Bachelor’s degrees in STEM earn more than Master’s degrees in non-STEM occupations.

47 percent of Bachelor’s degrees in STEM occupations earn more than PhDs in non-STEM occupations.

Certificate holders in engineering earn more than Associate’s degree-holders in business and more than Bachelor’s degree-holders in education.

Getting a degree matters, but your major matters more.

Earnings variation between majors is great. The highest-earning major (Petroleum Engineering)

makes 314% more than the lowest earning major (Counseling Psychology).

Highest-earning majors are in Engineering and Computer Science groups, which make $75,000 and $70,000, respectively.

Lowest-earning majors are in Education and Psychology and Social Work make $42,000.

Humanities and Liberal Arts majors make $47,000 at the median.*

*all the earnings data here is for full-time, full-year workers with a terminal Bachelor’s degree.

STEM majors earn more, in any field they choose.

For candidates with the same level of education working in STEM is better than working in non-STEM

jobs.

Wages for STEM workers rose more than for non-STEM workers between the 1980s and the 2000s.

Healthcare Practitioners and Managerial and Professional Occupations pay the best of all .

Students and workers divert from STEM in school and in the workforce. Diversion has to do with interests,

values, and pay.

Women are less likely to be found in STEM jobs or fields of study and these decisions begin well before

wages have any significant impact on a student’s assessments.

Work Interests and Work Values (highly associated with STEM)

Derived from the O*NET database and Census data.

Certain key knowledge areas, skills, abilities, work interests, and work values are significantly more important to, and characteristic of, STEM and STEM-competitor occupations than other occupations.  

These similarities facilitate the diversion of STEM talent into other occupations, especially STEM competitors, which on average pay better than STEM occupations.

Work Interests associated with STEM: Realistic and Investigative

Work Values associated with STEM : Individual Achievement, Independence, and Recognition