Big STEM Inaccuracy

Accuracy in Academia ^ | May 28, 2014 | Malcolm A. Kline

[Academiadotorg]

Throughout America, debates about what to do about the shortage of science, technology, engineering and math graduates have been going on for at least a decade from the halls of Congress to most university campuses. It apparently never occurred to any of the thought leaders who participated in them that they might be mistaken.

“The country has twice as many people with STEM degrees as there are STEM jobs,” Steven A. Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), said at the National Press Club on Tuesday, May 20, 2014. With Karen Zieigler, Camarota co-authored a study on the so-called STEM crisis for CIS.

The relatively apolitical Rand Institute, the liberal Urban Institute and the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute reached similar conclusions. “Rand found there’s no evidence such shortages have existed since at least 1990,” Camerota said at the press club launch for his CIS report. Michael Teitelbaum, Ph.D.: Senior Research Associate, Harvard Law School, said on the CIS panel at the press club that “researchers are usually surprised that there is no STEM shortage.”

Moreover, efforts to, in essence, “stem the STEM shortage,” by importing immigrants to fill such vacancies has only created, well, more unemployment. “ 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,” Camerota and Zeigler write in the CIS report. “Of these new immigrants with STEM degrees, only a little more than a third took a STEM job and about the same share took a non-STEM job. The rest were not working in 2012.”

Similarly, there is a contention among the powers-that-be, that students who, early in their academic careers, evince some interest in STEM activities are somehow lost in the academic “pipeline.” On the CIS panel, B. Lindsay Lowell, Ph.D.: Director of Policy Studies, Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown University, claimed that this too was more mythological than factual. “Recently, we’ve had one-third more students interested in STEM careers,” he said.

Interestingly, there is one growth area among STEM occupations. “Petroleum engineering has gone from a backwater to the hot energy area in just five years,” Teitelbaum avers. “After going down for 20 years, we’re going up.”

Camerota noted that in petroleum engineering, the supply of graduates with STEM degrees comes very close to meeting the demand for just jobs. He attributes the trend to the increased use of the much derided practice of “fracking,” which Investopedia defines as “A slang term for hydraulic fracturing. Fracking refers to the procedure of creating fractures in rocks and rock formations by injecting fluid into cracks to force them further open. The larger fissures allow more oil and gas to flow out of the formation and into the wellbore, from where it can be extracted.

Fracking has resulted in many oil and gas wells attaining a state of economic viability, due to the level of extraction that can be reached.”

“Petroleum engineers have used fracking as a means of increasing well production since the late 1940s. Fractures can also exist naturally in formations, and both natural and man-made fractures can be widened by fracking. As a result, more oil and gas can be extracted from a given area of land.”

[FlipWilson]

“Throughout America, debates about what to do about the shortage of science, technology, engineering and math graduates have been going on for at least a decade from the halls of Congress to most university campuses. It apparently never occurred to any of the thought leaders who participated in them that they might be mistaken. “

First off, it is a function of the economy. There are no jobs anywhere. The fact that the demand for STEM educated workers is a bit less than the supply is better than the fact that there are NO jobs for those who are majoring in Art History, Women’s Studies and Ancient African Chanting. I would rather work my tail off and get the STEM degree knowing full well that at the end of the day I can do ANYTHING with that degree. Try getting a job that requires understanding technology with an English Literature degree. While not impossible, it is not exactly commonplace.

[bigbob]

Exactly. Plus, STEM education is hard, requiring diligence and effort, which usually means less partying, longer hours, etc.

[Kirkwood]

“I would rather work my tail off and get the STEM degree knowing full well that at the end of the day I can do ANYTHING with that degree.”

That is a myth.

[RJS1950]

The myth propagated by companies that there was/is a shortage of engineers, IT, scientists has been going on since the 90s. This started at the beginning of the outsourcing movement in the 90s and is based on companies desires to hire lesser qualified candidates who are more likely to accept any wage (and abuse) no matter how low in order to work and stay here in the U.S. Along with that, the efforts to build interest for stem subjects at the K-12 levels has almost exclusively focused on young women because there were too many boys and not enough girls in the sciences. Young men have been ignored and even discouraged from getting into stem subjects over the last 20 years. I’ve seen this with my sons and now my grandson while my grandaughters are encouraged and provided with a lot of programs to generate an interest. Along with ignoring the abundance of qualified native stem workers, they have choked off a large part of the pipeline for future stem employees.

[kabar]

The fact that the demand for STEM educated workers is a bit less than the supply is better than the fact that there are NO jobs for those who are majoring in Art History, Women’s Studies and Ancient African Chanting.

I guess it depends on how you define a "bit less than supply." Using the most common definition of STEM jobs, total STEM employment in 2012 was 5.3 million workers (immigrant and native), but there are 12.1 million STEM degree holders (immigrant and native).

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.

[Sloth]

That is a myth.

I agree. I have a chemical engineering degree and find that my options are very limited.

[staytrue]

“I would rather work my tail off and get the STEM degree knowing full well that at the end of the day I can do ANYTHING with that degree.” That is a myth.

No it is true especially regarding a physics degree from a decent university. Why ? Because physics is about studying, applying mathematics to and manipulating the physical world.

You have a better knowledge of the physical world, manipulating and predicting the physical world. and you are more knowledgeable about almost everything as a result.

I will concede that athletics and predicting and manipulating people are not things physicists are good at.

[Robert357]

B.S. There is STEM and then there is STEM and they are not all interchangeable. You can't take someone with a BS in Chemistry or Biology and expect them to perform as well as a Mechanical Engineering or Industrial Engineering graduate on at a factory helping with design modifications of the product or the assembly process.

From personal knowledge virtually all mechanical engineering graduates at a local state university are getting jobs or going on to graduate school.

I believe that there is a concerted effort by those in the software industry to pump up the labor market with H1b visas so that they can keep wages down in those sectors.

However, in industry we are seeing a resurgence of manufacturing returning to the US and that will require certain engineering disciplines and STEM savvy workers who understand modern QC/QA techniques or we will not be able to grow manufacturing in this country because of a lack of key STEM-skilled workers.

[DManA]

The flat wages PROVE there is no shortage of workers for those jobs.

[kabar]

However, in industry we are seeing a resurgence of manufacturing returning to the US and that will require certain engineering disciplines and STEM savvy workers who understand modern QC/QA techniques or we will not be able to grow manufacturing in this country because of a lack of key STEM-skilled workers.

Can you be a little more specific as to what "key" engineering disciplines are in short supply? And what kind of numbers are you talking about in terms of needs?

[FlipWilson]

“That is a myth”

Considering I have a STEM degree and have done something else with it I will reply, It is not.

[kabar]

To assist in your reply, here is a list of the engineering disciplines. Which ones are currently in short supply?

[Kirkwood]

You are very, very wrong. Maybe 70 years ago a person could switch between specializations in STEM, but that is impossible to do today because of the depth of knowledge required in a STEM specialization. Even worse, most experienced STEM workers are actually linked to a sub-specialization today and can’t even qualify for employment in their general area of specialization.

Thirty years ago I would go to an international meeting in my area of specialization and meet with the 80 key people in the field. Today I go to the same meeting and there are now over 3000 people in that area of specialization. Within that specialty there are maybe 20 areas of sub-specialization. Virtually all of these people are employed with soft money.

[FlipWilson]

I suppose the original point/question of my first post was: Ok, there is an oversupply of STEM workers but given the state of the job market how does the STEM worker fare in comparison to the non-STEM worker? The premise of the article was that it is a waste of time to obtain a STEM degree. But if you are going to be unemployed no matter what, which degree would you rather have (none, of course being an option)?

http://www.itif.org/publications/real-story-guestworkers-high-skill-us-labor-market

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/linda-rosen/the-truth-hurts-the-stem-_b_3900575.html

[FlipWilson]

Quote” You are very, very wrong. Maybe 70 years ago a person could switch between specializations in STEM.”

And why can’t a STEM educated person switch to a non-STEM role? My brother was an ME and now is in purchasing for a Fortune 50 company. But he needs that ME background to do his job. It is not just in the box STEM=STEM thinking I am alluding to but the value of a STEM education v. African Studies, etc.

[Mr. Jeeves]

I think many confuse "STEM" jobs with "corporate IT jobs". The latter has gone the way of the 40's-60's era typing pool in a surprisingly short time, due to improved software and foreign competition.

Now we have many millions of people who used to sit around in nice cubicles drinking coffee, talking about last night's Letterman show, and working about two hours a day writing business specifications at a 10th grade level who are finding they can't get paid $110K a year for that particular skill set any any more. Their upper middle class lives have come to an abrupt - and likely permanent - end.

In the meantime, Federal and state government has become so utterly punitive toward job creators that The Next Big Thing (probably in genetics/nanotechnology/robotics) is not being pursued with the vigor it would have been thirty years ago. So many STEM jobs that would be available to young science and engineering graduates just aren't being created - companies are waiting until the political weather clears. Will it ever?

[Kirkwood]

You say you did something else for a career, so you in fact have no idea what is actually taking place in the STEM job market.

[kabar]

Here is a study that might answer your questions

[kabar]