| Bolstering the numbers of science and engineering professionals has been an ongoing focus in U. S. education and economic policy for more than 60 years since the Manhattan Project (Bush, 1945; Smith, 1989). For decades, federal officials have introduced initiatives to encourage more students to earn degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), with the goal of having them contribute to the U.S. scientific and technological workforce. Yet, not every worker in a STEM job will see his or her career as the obvious path toward job satisfaction and high income. The majority of the literature that documents the rate of exit of professionals from STEM careers has mostly focused on men and women holding degrees from a designated traditional, four-year institution, with some focus on underrepresented minorities (Hanson, 2004; Leslie, McClure, & Oaxaca, 1998; Pearson, 1985; Preston, 2004a; Stephan & Levin, 2005). A closer look at the rate of exit of STEM professionals from a nationally representative sample of U. S. citizens who are women and minorities and who hold a two-year degree may further help education officials create new policies to entice such prospective students to earn a STEM degree, pursue a STEM job, and stay on the job.;This study examined the rate of exit of workers from a STEM to non-STEM job from 1979 through 2010 using a subset of the nationally representative sample of 12,686 men and women from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79). A discrete-time survival analysis measured the rate of exit based on age, region, income, marital status, educational attainment, gender, and race. The research results demonstrate that women and African Americans are more likely than men and non-black/non-Hispanic workers, respectively, to leave the STEM professions that focus on the physical, computational, and biological sciences. For STEM fields that include the healthcare professions, African Americans are still more likely to leave their careers, but women are more likely to stay. Also, the results show that a two-year degree should be considered as a retention tool in the STEM workforce.;These findings can further help policymakers and education officials determine the best approach to recruiting and retaining women and underrepresented minorities in STEM professions. The results, for example, could provide guidance to career counselors in high schools, community colleges, and universities as they assist students who are deciding whether a STEM career is the right investment for them based on their individual goals, interests, and financial resources. |
