Many STEM Jobs Do Not Require Four-Year Degree, Brookings Reports

While policymakers often tout workers in the field of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) as a critical element of U.S. competitiveness in the global economy, the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program claims that a narrow definition of STEM occupations neglects vital employees in these technical fields. In a recent report entitled The Hidden STEM Economy, the authors examined knowledge requirement scores for STEM fields obtained from O*NET (Occupational Information Network Data collection Program) to assess the knowledge, education, and wage needs of the various STEM occupations. They determined that redefining STEM occupations based on knowledge and skill requirements rather than solely educational requirements provided a more comprehensive understanding of the STEM economy and revealed that many economies across the nation benefit from the presence of non-professional, sub-bachelor degree STEM workers.

Not all STEM workers need formal college-level skills, but they do need to master a specific body of knowledge under the Brookings definition of a STEM worker. Such occupations include installation, maintenance, and repair, construction, production, protective services, transportation, farming, forestry and fishing, building and grounds cleaning and maintenance, healthcare support, personal care, and food preparation. Jobs with high knowledge requirements were categorized as either “high-STEM” occupations, where workers must have extensive knowledge in at least one of the STEM fields, or super-high STEM occupations, where workers must have extensive knowledge across more than one STEM field. If the definition of STEM occupations is limited to only include professional industries, then STEM jobs account for 4 percent to 5 percent of total U.S. employment; however, if we expand the definition to include all jobs that are high-STEM occupations , the share increases to 20 percent of total U.S. employment.

The report further reveals that under the broader definition of what constitutes a STEM occupation, half of all STEM jobs are available to workers without a four-year college degree, and see wages that are 22 percent higher on average than jobs with similar educational requirements. Despite this, only 22 percent of the $4.3 billion the federal government spends on STEM education supports training or sub-bachelor's education while 45 percent is directed toward STEM education and training at the bachelor's level or higher. Policy initiatives that only focus on STEM careers requiring bachelor's degrees neglect cheaper and more accessibly pathways and fail to serve the forgotten STEM workers who positively contribute to the success of U.S. regional economies, according to the report's authors.

The Brookings report reveals that broadening the definition of what constitutes a STEM job to include those that do not require a four-year college degree illustrates the value of sub-bachelor's STEM jobs and encourages comprehensive policy measures that support these well-paying and economically beneficial positions. Redefining STEM occupations also exposed often overlooked metropolitan areas that have a strong STEM presence. Although STEM jobs requiring a bachelor's degree are densely clustered in certain metropolitan areas like San Jose, Boston and Washington D.C., sub-bachelor's degree STEM jobs are prevalent in every large metropolitan area. When using Brooking's broader definition, Palm Bay, FL, Bakersfield, CA, and Madison, WI, are classified as U.S. metropolitan areas with a significant STEM economy. By every definition, strong STEM employment is strongly associated with higher patents per worker, a lower rate of job losses during the recession, higher exports as a share of GDP, and higher incomes.

Click here for The Hidden STEM Economy report . . .