Why is STEM so Important?
US STEM Education Scores
US Worldwide Test Score Rankings 2022
♦ US ranked as 18th out of 81 countries on STEM overall,
♦ US Ranked #16 in Science
♦ US Ranked #34 in Math
US Falling Behind Key Competitors and More:
♦ US behind China, Japan and Europe in Science & Math
♦ US also behind countries like Vietnam & Latvia in Math
US Imports 50-60,ooo STEM professionals each year
Graph shown is based on US Immigration data for VISA requests in EB-2 data (see ref 6 below)
Shortfall in US STEM graduates
♦ These visas are driven by the lack of US citizens graduating in STEM fields.
♦ This graph shows that while it has been consistently above 50,000 each year since 2018 – more than 300,000 total.
♦ This implies the US is producing ~50,000 fewer STEM professionals than it’s economy demands, every year.
Long Term Risks
♦ US Companies are providing valuable experience to hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals in key STEM fields.
♦ Many of these STEM professionals have no long term ties to the US and could leave the US at any time. This creates a long term economic Risk of large STEM migration out of US, if stronger economies emerge overseas (e.g. China, Europe, India, etc)
The Gathering Storm - a brief history
2005 – a report of the U.S. National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine emphasized
– the “links between prosperity, science and technology jobs, and continued innovation to address societal problems.” and,
– predicted “dire consequences” if the country could not compete in the global economy as the result of a poorly prepared STEM workforce.” [4]
2006 – International study (PISA) results indicated that the United States comparatively ranked the US as 21st out of 30 countries, on assessments of scientific competency and knowledge. [5]
2009 – Presidential “Educate to Innovate Initiative” – to move U.S. students to the forefront of STEM career opportunities. Federal investments in STEM education were increased and the country began preparing to meet a goal of 100,000 better prepared STEM teachers by 2021. [6]
2014 – The STEM Education Act is established, providing more advanced training opportunity programs for teachers. [6]