Here Is a Hint Invest In STEM Workers

July 6, 2013

Have you ever heard of a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) worker? Probably not, but Brookings.edu reports in the article, “The Hidden STEM Economy” that 20% of the twenty-six million jobs in the US are in the STEM field. Since the economic downfall, recovery has been concentrated on workers with at least a bachelor’s degree. Most STEM jobs do not require a four-year college degree and have a high payout. Even if a worker has a degree in a STEM field the pay grade is much higher.

In a STEM based economy, job growth, wages, patenting, exports, and employment rates are much higher. Another positive factor is a larger concentration of these jobs means less income inequality. Where is the government in all of this?

“Of the $4.3 billion spent annually by the federal government on STEM education and training, only one-fifth goes towards supporting sub-bachelor’s level training, while twice as much supports bachelor’s or higher level-STEM careers. The vast majority of National Science Foundation spending ignores community colleges. In fact, STEM knowledge offers attractive wage and job opportunities to many workers with a post-secondary certificate or associate’s degree. Policy makers and leaders can do more to foster a broader absorption of STEM knowledge to the U.S workforce and its regional economies.”

What can we learn from this? Invest in this end of the workforce! It also points to technology being on the growing side (again), which means new innovation in information retrieval.

Whitney Grace, July 06, 2013

Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search

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