A shortage of scientists and techies? Think again

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/a-shortage-of-scientists-and-techies-think-again/

By ALAIN SHERTER July 11, 2014

A common refrain among corporate and political leaders is that the U.S. needs more engineers, scientists and other workers with the kind of specialized expertise needed to boost economic growth. And that assessment plays a part in a range of public policy debates, from how to change the nation's immigration laws to how to energize job-creation.

But new federal data suggest that idea is largely a myth, and it raises questions for students who are planning their careers. Roughly three-quarters of people who have a bachelor's degree in science, technology, engineering and math -- or so-called STEM fields -- aren't working in those professions, the U.S. Census Bureau said Thursday.

A common refrain among corporate and political leaders is that the U.S. needs more engineers, scientists and other workers with the kind of specialized expertise needed to boost economic growth. And that assessment plays a part in a range of public policy debates, from how to change the nation's immigration laws to how to energize job-creation.

But new federal data suggest that idea is largely a myth, and it raises questions for students who are planning their careers. Roughly three-quarters of people who have a bachelor's degree in science, technology, engineering and math -- or so-called STEM fields -- aren't working in those professions, the U.S. Census Bureau said Thursday.

•••••

Hal Salzman, a professor of planning and public policy at Rutgers University, has calculated that twice as many STEM students graduate every year as are able to find jobs in their field. Some half a million grads with these degrees emerge from U.S. colleges and universities annually, and they must compete for roughly 180,000 job openings, he said in a 2013 article.

"Engineering has the highest rate at which graduates move into STEM occupations, but even here the supply is over 50 percent higher than the demand," he wrote. "[Information technology], the industry most vocal about its inability to find enough workers, hires only two-thirds of each year's graduating class of bachelor's degree computer scientists."

By comparison, at least three-quarters of college graduates in health fields find work in those disciplines.

The Chronicle of Higher Education, citing a National Academies report, concluded last year that an excess of university Ph.D. candidates has led to a glut of life scientists, lab workers and physical scientists.

•••••