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title: "Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics"
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source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science,_technology,_engineering,_and_mathematics"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:21:26.781638+00:00"
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---

== Criticism ==
The focus on increasing participation in STEM fields has attracted criticism. In the 2014 article "The Myth of the Science and Engineering Shortage" in The Atlantic, demographer Michael S. Teitelbaum criticized the efforts of the U.S. government to increase the number of STEM graduates, saying that, among studies on the subject, "No one has been able to find any evidence indicating current widespread labor market shortages or hiring difficulties in science and engineering occupations that require bachelor's degrees or higher", and that "Most studies report that real wages in many—but not all—science and engineering occupations have been flat or slow-growing, and unemployment as high or higher than in many comparably-skilled occupations." Teitelbaum also wrote that the then-current national fixation on increasing STEM participation paralleled previous U.S. government efforts since World War II to increase the number of scientists and engineers, all of which he stated ultimately ended up in "mass layoffs, hiring freezes, and funding cuts"; including one driven by the Space Race of the late 1950s and 1960s, which he wrote led to "a bust of serious magnitude in the 1970s."
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, various STEM occupational outlooks have shown slowing growth or declines for several years.
IEEE Spectrum contributing editor Robert N. Charette echoed these sentiments in the 2013 article "The STEM Crisis Is a Myth", also noting that there was a "mismatch between earning a STEM degree and having a STEM job" in the United States, with only around 1⁄4 of STEM graduates working in STEM fields, while less than half of workers in STEM fields have a STEM degree.
Economics writer Ben Casselman, in a 2014 study of post-graduation earnings in the United States for FiveThirtyEight, wrote that, based on the data, science should not be grouped with the other three STEM categories, because, while the other three generally result in high-paying jobs, "many sciences, particularly the life sciences, pay below the overall median for recent college graduates."
A 2017 article from the University of Leicester concluded, that
"maintaining accounts of a 'crisis' in the supply of STEM workers has usually been in the interests of industry, the education
sector and government, as well as the lobby groups that represent them. Concerns about a shortage have meant the allocation of significant additional resources to the sector whose representatives have, in turn, become powerful voices in advocating for further funds and further investment."
A 2022 report from Rutgers University stated:
"In the United States, the STEM crisis theme is a perennial policy favorite, appearing every few years as an urgent concern in the nation's competition with whatever other nation is ascendant, or as the cause of whatever problem is ailing the domestic economy. And the solution is always the same: increase the supply of STEM workers through expanding STEM education. Time and again, serious and empirically grounded studies find little evidence of any systemic failures or an inability of market responses to address whatever supply is required to meet workforce needs."
A study of the UK job market, published in 2022, found similar problems, which have been reported for the USA earlier: "It is not clear that having a degree in the sciences, rather than in other subjects, provides any sort of advantage in terms of short- or long-term employability... While only a minority of STEM graduates ever work in highly-skilled STEM jobs, we identified three particular characteristics of the STEM labour market that may present challenges for employers: STEM employment appears to be predicated on early
entry to the sector; a large proportion of STEM graduates are likely to never work in the sector; and there may be more movement out of HS STEM positions by older workers than in other sectors... "

== See also ==

== References ==

== Further reading ==
David Beede; et al. (September 2011). "Education Supports Racial and Ethnic Equality in STEM" (PDF). U.S. Department of Commerce. Retrieved 2012-12-21.
David Beede; et al. (August 2011). "Women in STEM: An Opportunity and An Imperative" (PDF). U.S. Department of Commerce. Retrieved 2012-12-21.
Kaye Husbands Fealing, Aubrey Incorvaia, and Richard Utz, "Humanizing Science and Engineering for the Twenty-First Century." Issues in Science and Technology, Fall issue, 2022: 54–57.
David Langdon; et al. (July 2011). "STEM: Good Jobs Now and For the Future" (PDF). U.S. Department of Commerce. Retrieved 2012-12-21.
Arden Bement (May 24, 2005). "Statement To House & Senate Appriopriators In Support Of STEM Education And NSF Education" (PDF). STEM Coalition. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 20, 2012. Retrieved 2012-12-21.
Carla C. Johnson, et al., eds. (2020) Handbook of research on STEM education (Routledge, 2020).
Mary Kirk (2009). Gender and Information Technology: Moving Beyond Access to Co-Create Global Partnership. IGI Global Snippet. ISBN 978-1-59904-786-7.
Shirley M. Malcom; Daryl E. Chubin; Jolene K. Jesse (2004). Standing Our Ground: A Guidebook for STEM Educators in the Post-Michigan Era. American Association for the Advancement of Science. ISBN 0-87168-699-6.
Unesco publication on girls education in STEM – Cracking the code: girls' and women's education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) "http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0025/002534/253479E.pdf "
Wing Lau – Chief Engineer at the Department of Physics, Oxford University (Oct 12, 2017). "STEM Re-vitalisation, not trivialisation". OpenSchool. Retrieved 2017-10-12.

== External links ==
 Media related to STEM at Wikimedia Commons