Stem Statistics
One of the latest educational pushes has been for STEM – science, technology, engineering, and math – in the classroom. These fields are vital to the development of the United States’ economy and position in the world, and they also are solid career fields for students upon graduation from college and high school. As a homeschooling parent, it is important that you expose your children to STEM as much as possible so that they are aware of their career options in STEM and to prepare them for a world where having STEM skills is necessary.
STEM isn’t just people in lab coats and safety goggles or geeky computer programmers. It affects all of our daily lives, notes the website of the Kansas City nonprofit organization Science Pioneers. Consider science as the natural world: our planet, weather, natural disasters, plants and animals, food, and fuel. Technology today is cell phones and computers, but it encompasses inventions centuries old. Engineering involves buildings, roads, transportation problems, low-emission vehicles, energy-saving appliances. Mathematics is everywhere: at the bank, investment account statements, grocery store, and in our budgets. STEM careers are so important because they affect everyone, every day.
Careers in STEM are growing quickly, matching their impact on our daily lives. Take a look at these stem statistics from a July 2011 U.S. Department of Commerce report on STEM careers:
- In 2010, there were 7.6 million STEM workers in the United States, representing about 1 in 18 workers.
- STEM occupations are projected to grow by 17.0 percent from 2008 to 2018, compared to 9.8 percent growth for non-STEM occupations.
- STEM workers command higher wages, earning 26 percent more than their non-STEM counterparts.
- More than two-thirds of STEM workers have at least a college degree, compared to less than one-third of non-STEM workers.
- STEM degree holders enjoy higher earnings, regardless of whether they work in STEM or non-STEM occupations.
Teach your children about STEM careers. Sign them up for classes at your local co-op, high school, college, nonprofit, or homeschooling center to teach them about computer programming, how to become a certified nurse’s assistant, or accounting. They will be doing more than just preparing themselves for great careers with promising futures: they may be preparing for careers that focus on improving the world in which we live by solving problems like global warming, hunger, endangerment of habitats and animals, and a fragile global economy.
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