Where the Jobs Are: STEM Fields

New Study Shows STEM Job Posting Outnumber Unemployed People by Nearly 2-to-1

WASHINGTON, May 3, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Change the Equation's new Vital Signs report, "STEM Help Wanted," paints a bright picture for individuals with a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) background. An analysis of online job postings and unemployment data in the past 3 years finds that:

• Across the STEM fields, job postings outnumbered unemployed people by almost 2-to-1
• Overall, unemployed people outnumbered job postings by well more than 3-to-1

Those numbers clearly show STEM is where the jobs are, and the contrast between STEM occupations and other major occupational areas is particularly striking.

• Healthcare occupations that require STEM: 3.2 jobs per unemployed person
• Office and Administrative Support: 4 unemployed persons per job posting
• Management: 2.2 unemployed persons per job posting
• Business and Financial: 1.7 unemployed per posting  

"Our analysis of online job postings and unemployment data shows similar patterns across every state," said Linda Rosen, CEO of Change the Equation. "For their own economic vitality, states must put in place policies that help workers get retrained with STEM skills, offer incentives to students to master STEM knowledge, and focus on the pipeline—beginning in elementary school—to create a robust supply of STEM-adept citizens."

Today and tomorrow in Washington, CTEq has gathered 42 state teams, including the District of Columbia, for the Vital Signs Forum. More than 200 business, education, non-profit, government and policy leaders will look at the "STEM Help Wanted" Vital Signs report, review other critical indicators for which CTEq is currently analyzing data, and examine effective policy levers that can address weak indicators to move their state STEM agendas forward.

To read the "STEM Help Wanted" Vital Signs report and for more information about the methodology, visit www.changetheequation.org/stemdemand.

Change the Equation (CTEq) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, CEO-led initiative that is mobilizing the business community to improve the quality of science, technology, engineering and mathematics learning in the United States. CTEq's coalition of members strives to sustain a national movement to improve PreK-12 STEM learning by leveraging and expanding its work focusing on three goals: improving philanthropy, inspiring youth and advocating for change.

SOURCE Change the Equation

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