Facts about STEM careers and U.S. Hispanics

The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology estimates that the United States needs to produce approximately one million more STEM professionals over the next 10 years, which equates to increasing the number of students earning STEM degrees by nearly 35% per year over current rates.

Latinos are the fastest growing segment of the US population and workforce, yet the Hispanic share of the STEM workforce increased by only one percentage point from 2000-2009, according to the US Department Of Commerce’ Economics And Statistics Administration.

Given Hispanics are projected to account for 75 percent of the growth in the nation’s labor force between 2010 and 2020, Latinos completing certificates and degrees in STEM fields will be vital to meeting the national STEM college completion goal1.

According to data from the Higher Education Research Institute (2010), only 16 percent of Hispanic students who began college in 2004 as STEM majors completed a STEM degree by 2009, compared to 25 percent of non-Hispanic White students.

Women hold only 24% of STEM jobs in the United States2

• Only 3% of Hispanic Women earned physical science degrees, 2% earned engineering degrees and 1% earned computer science degrees in 20113 
• 81% of teen girls see themselves as “smart enough to have a career in STEM”, yet only 13% consider it their number one career option2

Sources:

1. President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technolog
2. New York Academy of Sciences and Girls Scouts of the USA 
3. Miami Science Museum