Great Graphic: STEM Majors and Occupations

This Great Graphic comes from the 2012 American Community Survey of the Census Department. It shows occupation by college major. There is an interactive version of the chart that is available here. The focus of this version is on STEM--science, technology, engineering and math.  The thickness of the line shows the greater link between the major and occupation.  

The narrative that is being repeated ubiquitously is that there is a shortage of STEM workers. This is one of the key sources of the skills mismatch that college guidance counselors, employers and the media emphasis. According to a report based on the Census Department from Pew Research, a majority of engineering majors are not working engineers--only a third do.  More engineer majors are non-STEM managers than computer workers.    About a quarter of the physical science majors work in any STEM field. Their largest occupations are health care (17%), non-STEM managers (14%) and education (12%).  It is also striking how many liberal arts majors have careers in STEM.

STEM education should not be simply understood as an emphasis on these four disciplines.  Rather it is suggestive of an integrated, applied approach that is project-based.  There has been a more recent attempt to add art (STEAM), and reading (STREAM) and music (STREAMM), but at the end of the day, the risk is that the focus and methodology are diluted for the sake of comprehensiveness.