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.

As you might guess, there’s a disconnect between this reality and the U.S. education system. “Of the $4.3 billion spent annually by the federal government on STEM education and training, only one-fifth supports sub-bachelor’s level training, while twice as much supports bachelor’s or higher level STEM careers,” Rothwell stated. “The vast majority of National Science Foundation spending ignores community colleges. … Policy makers and leaders can do more to foster a broader absorption of STEM knowledge to the U.S workforce and its regional economies.”

This is especially important for manufacturing. Its share of U.S. “super-STEM” jobs, those requiring the highest skills, is 17 percent, matched only by the health care industry, according to the report. Its share of “high-STEM” jobs (a step below super-STEM in skill level) is 16 percent, second only to the health care industry, whose share is 20 percent.

Getting students interested in STEM education—in 4-year college, community college and vocational-technical school settings—would be a good first step toward turning around this situation. A National Engineering Forum meeting May 29 at the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History in Albuquerque, N.M., aimed to do just that, according to a report in Albuquerque Business First.

The group discussed ways to encourage more STEM education in New Mexico. “For many of us, the ‘E’ in STEM is silent,” said Jeffrey Wilcox, vice president of engineering for Lockheed Martin Corp., Bethesda, Md., in the report. “It should be writ large. That means that industry, academia, the labs and education come together and find out how best to leverage [engineering education].”

That’s a good idea, and one that should be followed up on in every area of the U.S. where manufacturing matters.