SCIENCE & ENGINEERING INDICATORS

The pervasiveness of science and technology in the economy has changed the nature of work for individuals at all education levels, including those who have a high school diploma or an associate’s degree or similar level qualification, rather than a bachelor’s degree. The skilled technical workforce (STW) consists of individuals who use science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) knowledge and skills in their jobs and have some high school, high school diploma, some college, associate’s degree, or similar levels of educational attainment.

The STW is important to U.S. economic competitiveness. Businesses cite the availability of STEM workers as critical to their ability to compete globally, yet regularly express difficulty in finding workers to fill these jobs. The STW also plays an important role in advancing our national security. Industries that are critical to our national security and defense—including aerospace, advanced manufacturing, information technology, health care, and cybersecurity—rely on availability of these workers (NASEM 2017).

In 2017, over 17 million people worked as skilled technical workers, defined here as workers in occupations that employ significant levels of S&E expertise and technical knowledge and whose educational attainment is less than a bachelor’s degree (Table 3-14).^{​See the Technical Appendix for more information on the methods used to define these additional occupations and the total list of occupations included in the STW.} In this section, nationally representative data from the American Community Survey (ACS) are used to provide an analysis of demographic and employment trends among the STW (age 25 and older) in the United States (see this report’s Technical Appendix for more details). The data show that skilled technical jobs provide solid career opportunities for a significant part of the U.S. workforce.

The STW accounts for a considerable portion of U.S. employment (13% of the workforce age 25 and older) (Table 3-14). This workforce is made up primarily of men—only 28% of skilled technical workers are women. In contrast, the overall U.S. workforce (age 25 and older) is about half women and half men. The racial and ethnic distribution of the STW is largely similar to the overall workforce (Table 3-14). Compared to the overall workforce, Asians^{​The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) set standards for the collection of data on race and ethnicity. NCSES uses the OMB standards and guidelines to define Asians and Native Hawaiians or Other Pacific Islanders. These are two distinct racial groups, and the report analyzes them separately. OMB defines “Asian” as A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian Subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam and “Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander” as A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands. For more information on how NCSES defines racial and ethnic groups according to OMB guidelines, see https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf19304/technical-notes (accessed 23 May 2019).} account for a smaller share of the STW (4% versus 6%), and so do foreign-born individuals (16% of STW, compared with 18% of the overall workforce).

Skilled technical occupations provide higher paying jobs that have lower unemployment rates than the remaining occupations for workers with less than a bachelor’s degree. In 2017, the median salary of skilled technical workers ($45,000) was significantly higher and the unemployment rate was lower (3%) compared to workers with less than a bachelor’s degree in all other occupations ($29,000 and 5%).

Employment of skilled technical workers was concentrated in four broad occupational categories. Occupations of the STW include S&E and S&E-related occupations, but also those that require significant technological skills and expertise, but do not necessarily require a bachelor’s degree for entry (for a full list of occupations included here see Technical Appendix). Nearly two-thirds of the STW were employed in occupations in construction and extraction (21%); health care (20%); and installation, maintenance, and repair (20%). Another 16% were employed in production occupations (Figure 3-17).

STW employment was concentrated in three broad industries: construction, manufacturing, and medical industries. In total, these three industry groups accounted for nearly 60% of STW employment, compared with 30% of all employment (Table 3-15). STW employment intensity, defined by an industry’s STW employment as a proportion of its total employment, was highest in construction (36%); mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction (35%); and utilities (29%).

The STW provides valuable expertise in key industries such as the medical industry, construction, and manufacturing. Overall, the occupations available to those workers with S&E and technological knowledge and abilities provide a viable career path for those with a high school diploma, an associate’s degree, some college, or similar qualification. The STW is another pathway to an overall well-paying and secure career. Gender discrepancies remain, but racial and ethnic groups are well-represented in this workforce indicating a diverse workforce, which may contribute positively to growth and innovation.