Do STEM college graduates typically pursue a career in their original fields of study?
Wednesday, August 5, 2020
By William Boger
Copy link
Copy featured image
NO
Based on data from a 2012 Census Bureau study, about 48% of college graduates between 25 and 34 years of age with degrees in science, technology, engineering or math-related fields were working in a related field. STEM occupations include computer scientists and mathematicians; engineers and architects; life, physical, and social scientists; medical professionals; and managers of STEM activities.
When adjusted to include workers up to age 64, this percentage dropped to about 25%, suggesting a large portion of STEM workers end up changing their field at some point later in their careers.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.
FACT BRIEF BY
