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Diversity and STEM: Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities

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REPORT

 * Executive Summary Expand/collapse Executive Summary
   * Key Takeaways
 * Introduction Expand/collapse Introduction
   * Overview
   * Purpose of Report
   * Structure of Report
   * Defining the STEM Workforce, Racial and Ethnic Categories, and Disability
     Status
 * The STEM Workforce Expand/collapse The STEM Workforce
   * Overview
   * Representation in the STEM Workforce
   * Growth in the STEM Workforce between 2011 and 2021
 * STEM Occupations Expand/collapse STEM Occupations
   * Overview
   * Representation in S&E, S&E-Related, and Middle-Skill Occupations
   * Characteristics of the STEM Workforce
   * Educational Attainment of the STEM Workforce
 * STEM Median Wage and Salary Earnings Expand/collapse STEM Median Wage and
   Salary Earnings
   * Overview
   * Earnings of STEM and Non-STEM Workers
   * Earnings of Workers in S&E, S&E-Related, and Middle-Skill Occupations
   * Educational Attainment and Earnings in STEM Workforce
 * STEM Unemployment Expand/collapse STEM Unemployment
   * Overview
   * Unemployment Rates for STEM and Non-STEM Occupations in 2019 and 2021
   * Unemployment Rates in S&E, S&E-Related, and Middle-Skill Occupations
   * Unemployment Rates by Educational Attainment in the STEM Labor Force
 * STEM Workforce with at Least a Bachelor's Degree Expand/collapse STEM
   Workforce with at Least a Bachelor's Degree
   * Overview
   * Representation in the Workforce with at Least a Bachelor’s Degree
   * Part-Time Employment in the Workforce with at Least a Bachelor’s Degree
 * Science and Engineering Degrees Earned Expand/collapse Science and
   Engineering Degrees Earned
   * Overview
   * Overall S&E Degrees Earned by Women
   * Degrees Earned by Women in Broad S&E Fields
   * Overall S&E Degrees Earned by Underrepresented Minorities
   * Bachelor’s Degrees Earned by Hispanic or Latino Students
   * Bachelor’s Degrees Earned by Black or African American Students
   * Bachelor’s Degrees Earned by American Indian or Alaska Native Students
   * Doctorates Earned by Persons with Disabilities
 * Graduate Enrollment in Science and Engineering Expand/collapse Graduate
   Enrollment in Science and Engineering
   * Overview
   * Overall Enrollment by Women
   * Enrollment of Women in S&E Fields
   * Overall Minority Enrollment
   * Enrollment of Hispanic or Latino Students by S&E Field
   * Enrollment of Black or African American Students by S&E Field
   * Enrollment of American Indian or Alaska Native Students by S&E Field
 * Glossary Expand/collapse Glossary
   * Definitions
   * Key to acronyms
 * Data Sources
 * References
 * Notes
 * Acknowledgments and Citation Expand/collapse Acknowledgments and Citation
   * Acknowledgments
   * Suggested citation
 * Contact NCSES Expand/collapse Contact NCSES
   * NCSES


REPORT

 


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

A diverse workforce provides the potential for innovation by leveraging
different backgrounds, experiences, and points of view. Innovation and
creativity, along with technical skills relying on expertise in science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), contribute to a robust STEM
enterprise. Furthermore, STEM workers have higher median earnings and lower
rates of unemployment compared with non-STEM workers. This report provides
high-level insights from multiple data sources into the diversity of the STEM
workforce in the United States.

 


KEY TAKEAWAYS

 

STEM WORKFORCE

 * The U.S. STEM workforce gradually diversified between 2011 and 2021, with
   increased representation of women and underrepresented minorities—Hispanics
   or Latinos, Blacks or African Americans, and American Indians or Alaska
   Natives.
 * In 2021, among people ages 18 to 74 years, women made up half (51%) of the
   total U.S. population and about a third (35%) of people employed in STEM
   occupations.
 * In 2021, nearly a quarter (24%) of individuals in the U.S. workforce were
   employed in STEM occupations.
 * Hispanic workers represented 15% of the total STEM workforce in 2021, and
   Asian and Black workers were 10% and 9%, respectively. American Indians and
   Alaska Natives together made up less than 1% of the U.S. population and STEM
   workforce in 2021.
 * In 2021, among female STEM workers, 68% had science and engineering
   (S&E)–related jobs (health care workers, S&E managers, S&E precollege
   teachers, and technologists and technicians); women represented nearly
   two-thirds (65%) of workers in S&E-related occupations.
 * In 2021, nearly two-thirds (63%) of Hispanic individuals in STEM jobs worked
   in middle-skill occupations (jobs that require considerable STEM skills and
   expertise but do not typically require a bachelor’s degree for entry); among
   those in middle-skill occupations, 24% were Hispanic.
 * In 2020, women had lower median earnings than men in S&E, S&E-related, and
   middle-skill occupations.
 * In 2020, Hispanic, Black, and American Indian or Alaska Native STEM workers
   had lower median earnings than White or Asian STEM workers.
 * Persons with a disability who worked part time in an S&E-related occupation
   in 2021 reported wanting to work full time at about twice the rate of those
   without a disability (28% vs. 15%).

 

STEM WORKFORCE AND EDUCATION

 * Nearly two-thirds (65%) of women working in STEM jobs in 2021 had at least a
   bachelor’s degree education, compared with less than half (43%) of men in
   STEM jobs.
 * Among the college-educated workforce in S&E occupations in 2021, women’s
   representation ranged from 61% of social and related scientists to 16% of
   engineers.
 * In 2021, about two-thirds (65%) of STEM workers with at least one disability
   had less than a bachelor’s degree education.
 * Underrepresented minorities—Hispanic, Black, and American Indian or Alaska
   Native individuals—made up a higher share of the skilled technical workforce
   (32%) in 2021 than of workers who were employed in STEM occupations with at
   least a bachelor’s degree (16%).

 

S&E DEGREES

 * Hispanic, Black, and American Indian or Alaska Native persons collectively
   account for 37% of the U.S. population ages 18–34 years in 2021 and 26% of
   S&E bachelor’s, 24% of S&E master’s, and 16% of S&E doctoral degrees earned
   by U.S. citizens and permanent residents in 2020.
 * At the associate’s level only, Hispanic students earned a higher share of S&E
   degrees among U.S. citizens and permanent residents in 2020 (32%), relative
   to the Hispanic share of the college-age population (22%).
 * Black students had higher representation among the U.S. citizens and
   permanent residents in the social and behavioral sciences, earning 12% of
   bachelor’s degrees in these fields in 2020, relative to 5% of bachelor’s
   degrees in engineering.
 * The number of S&E degrees earned by women between 2011 and 2020 increased by
   63% at the associate’s level, 34% at the bachelor’s level, 45% at the
   master’s degree level, and 18% at the doctorate level.
 * In 2020, women earned 66% of bachelor’s, 67% of master’s, and 60% of doctoral
   degrees in the social and behavioral sciences.
 * In 2020, women were underrepresented among degree recipients at all degree
   levels in physical and earth sciences, mathematics and computer sciences, and
   engineering.
 * Among S&E doctorate recipients in 2021, individuals earning degrees in
   psychology and social sciences had the highest rate of disability (13%) and
   those in engineering had the lowest rate (8%).

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Diversity and STEM: Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities
National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES)
Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences
National Science Foundation
Alexandria, VA  |  NSF 23-315 |  January 30, 2023 | Prior Releases | Contact Us