Republicans and Democrats don’t seem to agree on much these days. But despite the stalemate in Congress, both political parties have supported the spending for years. billions in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. Its goals include reducing the perceived shortage of STEM workers, boosting American innovation and competitiveness, and diversifying this highly paid workforce. The message of lucrative STEM careers appears to have reached students and tuition-paying parents: the The number of STEM careers has increased in recent years.
But there’s a problem with these massive investments: most STEM graduates don’t work in STEM occupations. He Census Bureau reported In 2021, a measly 28% of STEM graduates are working in these supposedly important, highly paying, in-demand STEM jobs. These include various sectors such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and energy, but above all half of STEM jobs are on computersand technology companies tend to complain the most about the STEM shortage.
What is causing this disconnection? It’s pretty simple: Employers and investors who drive their behavior reduce national returns on investments in STEM education.
A key factor is salaries. many capable STEM graduates seek higher-paying careers, especially in business, finance, management, and medicine (STEM-focused government programs exclude doctors and are not designed to increase those numbers). Some find high salaries in STEM jobs, many of them fresh out of college, especially in hot fields like AI. But STEM graduates, even in the most dynamic sectors, including computer science and engineering, see their salary advantage fade over time, making them more likely to leave for greener pastures.
Is employers, of course, who set wages in their companies, and current wage levels do not keep most STEM graduates in STEM jobs. Some of the richest companies — Apple, Google, Adobe Systems and Intel — settled a class-action lawsuit for $415 million in 2015 after workers alleged employers used illegal means to prevent wage increases. Employers too Encourage the transition from technical to managerial work with higher salaries in their own companies.However, many lament the shortage of technical workers in STEM, not managers.
STEM graduates can also escape the “burn and quit” management common in STEM jobs. We’ve been bombarded with images of young, carefree STEM workers playing foosball and skateboarding for free snacks or meditation capsules. But the most common experienceespecially in technology, it’s an exhausting “defining moment” to launch a product quickly while worrying about the next performance review.
News reports from the most famous companies describe aggressive workplaces, both for employees and to the “shadow workforce” that works on short-term contracts. This Work stress affects both physical and mental health. Employees at Uber, Facebook and Google have taken their own lives, sparking debate about the role of work culture in their deaths.
Adding to the stress is the constant threat of layoffs. Even the wealthiest companies regularly lay off STEM workers as technologies or markets change or Investors demand cost reductions.. When Elon Musk took over Twitter and laid off more than half the workforce, other CEOs applauded. Musk was not a pioneer in STEM; Workers in the high-demand IT field are more likely to face layoffs than workers in most other industries. Particularly vulnerable are expensive older workers and those who did not, or could not, self-train to keep their skills relevant, an increasingly important practice because Training provided by employers has declined in recent decades..
Employers facing STEM shortages should do everything they can to retain their scarce talent. Instead, research finds that STEM employers maintain unwelcoming environments for older workers as well as women and underrepresented minorities. Sheryl Sandberg, former COO of Facebook (now Meta), blamed the shortage of female software developers at Facebook on universities and society for not graduating more women in computer science and engineering. But why would women choose a sector where the numbers indicate they are not welcome? Where Even blatant sexual harassment can go unpunished.?
Some STEM graduates also reject STEM jobs because many of them are meaningless or even harmful. Workers have fled social media companies. following concerns that spreading misinformation, eroding democracy, and fueling teen depression. Fossil fuel companies Fight for STEM talent for its damage to the planet. Technology companies are often accused of billions of dollars of unfair business practices and “surveillance capitalism”which extracts personal data from users. STEM graduates who want to make the world a better place may struggle to find a suitable fit.
The poor return on investments in STEM education can improve. Employers facing a shortage of STEM workers must understand that their wounds are self-inflicted. They can raise wages, use worker-friendly management, retrain outdated workers instead of laying them off, follow best practices on inclusion in the workplace and avoid destructive business models.
But investors repeatedly reward employers for treating STEM graduates as fast fashion (discarded when broken or no longer attractive) or for deploying STEM skills into lucrative but harmful business models. A better return on STEM education will require corporations moving away from maximizing short-term shareholder value and consider more stakeholders and moral boundaries when making money. Meanwhile, governments can entice investors to pour more money into planet-saving technologies, as Congress did with the Inflation Reduction Act.
Without these or similar changes, STEM careers will continue to be oversold.
John D. Skrentny is the author of “Wasted Education: How We Failed Our Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Graduates“ and professor of sociology at UC San Diego.
