STEM Worker Shortage Is A Myth, According To New Study

Rumors of a STEM worker shortage are unfounded, according to a new review of U.S. Census Bureau data by authors Steven A. Camarota and Karen Zeigler.

Camarota is the director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), while Zeigler is the group’s demographer.

Detailing their findings on the official CIS website, the pair concluded, “While employers argue that there are not enough workers with technical skills, most prior research has found little evidence that such workers are in short supply. This report uses the latest Census Bureau data available to examine the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. Consistent with other research, the findings show that the country has more than twice as many workers with STEM degrees as there are STEM jobs.”

Furthermore, CIS found “only modest levels of wage growth for such workers for more than a decade,” noting that both “employment and wage data indicate there is no shortage of STEM workers in the United States.”

Referencing the most common definition of STEM jobs, total STEM careers in 2012 totaled 5.3 million workers (immigrant and native), while there were 12.1 million STEM degree holders (immigrant and native).

Only one-third of native-born Americans with an undergraduate STEM degree holding a job actually work in a STEM occupation.

Other findings of the study include the following:

There are more than five million native-born Americans with STEM undergraduate degrees working in non-STEM occupations: 1.5 million with engineering degrees, half a million with technology degrees, 400,000 with math degrees, and 2.6 million with science degrees.

An additional 1.2 million natives with STEM degrees are not working — unemployed or out of the labor force in 2012.

Despite the economic downturn, Census Bureau data show that, between 2007 and 2012, about 700,000 new immigrants who have STEM degrees were allowed to settle in the country, yet at the same time, total STEM employment grew by only about 500,000.

This STEM worker shortage study is certainly an eye opener for any educator who continually encourages students into this particular career path.

Since many proponents of traditional higher education place a heavy emphasis on the field as “the future,” it’s also somewhat concerning.

For a deeper look at the CIS findings, you can read the full details here.

What do you think, Inquisitr readers? Is science, technology, engineering, and math, still the way to go from a career mapping standpoint?

Share your thoughts with us in the comments section.

[Image via ShutterStock]