stem

Jobs held by degree holders in Science and Engineering (S&E) fields make important contributions to our nation’s economic growth and global competitiveness, fueling innovative capacity through research, development, and other technologically advanced work activities, according to the National Science Foundation (NSF). This edition of Useful Stats will explore NSF National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) and National Science Board (NSB) education data, specifically data on S&E associate and bachelor’s degrees, and the S&E workforce supplied by the educational systems.

The U.S. has a STEM workforce problem, and finding diverse talent to fill existing and projected vacancies has proven to be particularly challenging. "Only about 20% of Latina/o students and 18% of Black students enroll in STEM majors, according to research published in 2019 in Educational Research. The research team, led by Catherine Riegle-Crumb at the University of Texas at Austin, also found that Latina/o and Black students switch majors at a rate of about 37% and 40%, respectively, and 20% of Latina/o STEM majors and 26% of Black STEM majors leave school without a degree.

SBA recently announced its 2023 Growth Accelerator Fund Competition Stage Two prize winners. The 35 award-winning accelerator partnerships will receive $150,000 each in unrestricted funds.

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) recently announced the 11 recipients of the 2023 STEM Talent Challenge. The challenge supports programs to train science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) talent and fuel regional innovation economies across the nation. The $4.5 million competition provides up to $500,000 in funding for programs that complement their region’s innovation economy, create pathways to good-paying STEM careers, and build talent pipelines for businesses to fill in-demand jobs in emerging and transformative sectors.

EDA is now accepting applications for its $4.5 million FY 2023 STEM Talent Challenge to support programs to train science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) talent and help fuel regional innovation economies. The competition will provide funding for programs that help build a robust STEM workforce in emerging and transformative sectors such as aerospace, aeronautics, biotechnology, advanced manufacturing, cybersecurity, among others. 

Although men and whites still make up the largest share of the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) workforce, it has been gradually diversifying over the past 10 years, with increased representation of women and underrepresented minorities — that is, Hispanics or Latinos, Blacks or African Americans, and American Indians or Alaska Natives, according to the 2023 biennial report, Diversity and STEM: Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities, from the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics.  The total STEM workforce grew 20% between 2011 and 2021, increasing from 29.0 million to 34.9 million workers. STEM workers as a percentage of the total workforce also increased, growing three percentage points from 21% in 2011 to 24% in 2021.

A recent State of Skills report by the Burning Glass Institute, the Business-Higher Education Forum, and Wiley identifies four emerging technical skill sets as the fastest growing in the country: artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML), cloud computing, product management, and social media. The authors use these four skill sets to illustrate how businesses, education providers, and learners can best prepare for a changing and increasingly technology-driven labor market. 

The National Science Foundation recently announced the four 2022 NSF INCLUDES awardees. These new alliances will each receive $10 million over five years to contribute to building an inclusive STEM workforce. The awardees will tackle issues like increasing data science capacity at minority-serving institutions (MSIs), increasing the representation of Native American and Alaska Native students in STEM fields, and supporting equitable pathways to postdoctoral fellowship positions.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) recently announced a new initiative — the Experiential Learning for Emerging and Novel Technologies (ExLENT) initiative and seeks proposals to address barriers in the STEM workforce by encouraging partnerships among industry, educational, and government organizations. The program estimates giving out 25 to 35 ExLENT awards that will last up to three years with a total budget of up to $1,000,000, with a total anticipated funding amount of $30 million. This initiative is part of a larger effort to expand the STEM workforce needed to solve significant societal challenges like climate change and clean energy and address rapidly evolving emerging technologies.

In another illustration of how women’s participation in the tech industry continues to lag, SmartAsset recently released its annual report looking at Best Cities for Women in Tech. The report finds country-wide, the percentage of women in STEM is growing, but that growth is occurring at a dwindling rate, and that women make up only about 20% of the field’s total workforce. Detroit, Michigan, has the highest percentage of women tech workers (41.7%), according to SmartAsset. Irvine, California, was cited as having the lowest percentage (18.9%) of women tech workers. The report shared statistics for women’s participation in STEM in other cities as it relates to the industry growth with that area and their income.