Yesterday, ESA released a report examining the representation of minorities in science, technology engineering and mathematics (STEM) jobs -- the third in a series of reports on STEM. Education Helps to Enable Racial and Ethnic Equality in STEM [1] suggests that higher education is a gateway to high-quality, high-paying STEM jobs, and demographic groups with higher college graduation rates tend to see higher shares of STEM workers.
ESA’s earlier reports examine the importance of the STEM workforce to America’s innovation and competitiveness and gender disparities in the STEM workforce.
So why is STEM important enough to merit three separate analyses by ESA? Because when we talk about American innovation and competitiveness in today’s 21st century economy – and creating jobs of the future – we’re talking about the STEM fields. America’s future workforce must be highly skilled in science, technology, engineering and math for America to lead the global economy. The STEM workforce has great potential for growth, and opportunities to leverage that growth are right in front of us.
Education Helps to Enable Racial and Ethnic Equality in STEM [1] finds that there are large disparities in STEM employment across race and ethnic groups in the United States. About 5.3 percent of entire workforce has a STEM job. But the share of non-Hispanic Asians with STEM jobs is much higher (15 percent), while the corresponding shares for other groups – Hispanics (2 percent), non-Hispanic Blacks (3 percent) and American Indians and Alaska Natives (3 percent) – are much lower than the share of entire workforce with STEM jobs Non-Hispanic Whites and members of other minority groups (Pacific Islanders, members of other races, and persons reporting more than one race) are about as likely to hold STEM jobs as the overall workforce (6 percent). (See Figure 1 below.)
On the surface, some of these findings might seem reminiscent of our last STEM report (Women in STEM: A Gender Gap to Innovation [2]), because both reports describe the underrepresentation of various groups in STEM (such as women, Hispanics, non-Hispanics Blacks, and non-Hispanic American Indians and Alaska Natives) that historically have been socially and economically disadvantaged. (Of course, as noted in our reports, each demographic group of workers is extremely heterogeneous, so it is important to bear in mind that we are talking about average characteristics and average STEM labor market outcomes for each group.) Moreover, members of such groups typically earn a substantially higher STEM premium than their non-STEM worker counterparts than is the case for historically advantaged groups (i.e., men and non-Hispanic Whites). And for members of each group, having a college education substantially increases the chances of holding a STEM job. (See Figure 4.) But there are some key differences between the findings of the two reports.
First, as noted in our blog [3] about Women in STEM (and discussed in greater detail in our earlier report, Women in America), over the past several decades, women have caught up with and even surpassed men in levels of post-secondary school enrollment and degree attainment – yet they remain underrepresented in both STEM fields of study and STEM jobs. However, minority groups (other than non-Hispanic Asians) have lower college graduation rates than non-Hispanic Whites (see the leftmost group of bars in Figure 3 below), and are therefore less likely to hold STEM jobs – many of which require higher education. But when members of such groups do graduate from college, we find that their focus on STEM fields of study (see middle group of bars in Figure 3) and subsequent STEM employment (rightmost group of bars in Figure 3) mirror that of non-Hispanic Whites. So, low college graduation rates among some minority groups appear to be a key driver behind their lower representation in STEM jobs.
Second, non-Hispanic Asians are the exception to minority underrepresentation (despite the fact that Asian-Americans have also historically confronted social and economic disadvantage in the United States). We find that employed, non-Hispanic Asians are more likely to have college degrees, major in STEM fields, and have STEM jobs than any other demographic group (see Figure 3). More than half of Asians (54 percent) have at least a bachelor’s degree.
These findings are important for several reasons. As shown in our first STEM report, STEM jobs pay more than other jobs, even after controlling for other earnings-related factors such as level of educational attainment and age. Regardless of race and Hispanic origin this remains true – in fact, members of all minority groups have higher STEM wage premiums than do non-Hispanic Whites. (See Figure 9.) Given that most minority groups lag behind non-Hispanic Whites and Asians in college education, raising college graduation rates may help to boost minority participation in STEM, and ultimately increase the STEM talent pool in the U.S. And more STEM workers will advance American innovation and global competitiveness.
Finally, let’s consider the possible causes of our findings. ESA primarily focuses on using data to present the facts and inform discussion of important economic issues. With this disclaimer in mind, there are some possible reasons behind these findings: racial and ethnic stereotypes, a lack of STEM role models, or relatively low resources available for education. Any combination of these and other factors may play a role in lagging STEM employment rates among some groups.
As we consider the findings of ESA’s three reports on the crucial subject of STEM, it is clear that the STEM workforce is critical to America’s competitiveness and position as a global leader in technology and innovation. This final report underscores the urgency of President Obama’s continued commitment to STEM training and education.
~Mark Doms, Chief Economist, U.S. Department of Commerce
September 13, 2011
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