New approach needed for STEM

The national conversation about the “skills gap” and its role in manufacturing continues to simmer. I haven’t seen it come to a boil yet, perhaps because the growth in manufacturing has tapered off from its torrid pace of the past couple years. But the issue is out there being studied, discussed and debated.

Lately, I’ve seen more discussion of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education, a handy acronym that describes the kind of graduates the manufacturing industry—among many others—is recruiting. As always, more STEM graduates are needed to join the rapidly aging manufacturing workforce.

A study by The Brookings Institution, “The Hidden STEM Economy,” sheds some light on this issue. “Because of how the STEM economy has been defined, policy makers have mainly focused on supporting workers with at least a bachelor’s degree, overlooking a strong potential workforce of those with less education, but substantial STEM skills,” said Jonathan Rothwell, associate fellow, Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings, and author of the report.

That sounds about right. Recently, Americans have been focused mostly on 4-year college education, with many educators, high school graduates and their parents seeing it as the only acceptable path. But, in reality, many students will not go to or will not complete college, and would greatly benefit from a strong, structured post-high school education system that focuses on the complex technical skills needed to succeed in many jobs.

Rothwell’s analysis of the occupational requirements for STEM knowledge found that, as of 2011, 26 million U.S. jobs—20 percent of all jobs—required a high level of knowledge in at least one STEM field. STEM jobs have doubled as a share of all jobs since the Industrial Revolution, from less than 10 percent in 1850 to 20 percent in 2010.

Also, half of all STEM jobs are available to workers without a 4-year college degree, and these jobs pay $53,000 per year on average—10 percent higher than non-STEM jobs with similar education requirements, according to the report. And sub-bachelor’s STEM jobs pay relatively high wages in every large U.S. metropolitan area.