Race and Gender Variation in STEM Employment and Retention: A Cohort Analysis Using SESTAT Data

女性、黑人和西班牙裔在科学和工程职业中的代表性持续不足，阻碍了增加科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）劳动力规模的努力，这是政策制定者关注的问题，他们认为科学和科学家对美国经济的未来至关重要。现有的研究表明，造成这种代表性不足的一个因素是，妇女，黑人和西班牙裔在STEM大学专业中的代表性的增加并不一定转化为STEM就业的平等增长。此外，女性，黑人和西班牙裔仍然远低于白色或亚洲男性在大多数STEM职业中就业的可能性，特别是在生命科学之外。 但是，现有的研究很少研究STEM就业中性别和种族-民族差异的长期趋势或这些模式的潜在因素。 拟议中的项目将使用美国国家科学基金会（NSF）的科学家和工程师统计数据系统（SESTAT）的七次浪潮，研究持有STEM学位的大学毕业生在STEM职业就业方面的性别和种族-民族差异。政府在教育和培训STEM工作者方面的支出相当可观，2011年达到近9亿美元（美国物理学会，2010）。这些投资以及需要增加女性和代表性不足的少数民族科学家的数量，以保持STEM劳动力的未来健康（Burke，2007年;国家科学委员会，2010年），使相关职业的STEM工作者的保留成为一个关键的政策问题。该项目将提高公共和私营部门决策者和项目负责人的能力，以制定和实施鼓励妇女和代表性不足的少数民族保留在STEM职业中的做法。

The continuing underrepresentation of women, Blacks and Hispanics in science and engineering occupations impedes efforts to increase the size of the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workforce, a concern for policy makers who view science and scientists as critical to the future of the U.S. economy. Existing research shows that one factor contributing to this underrepresentation is that gains in women's, Blacks' and Hispanics' representation among STEM college majors do not necessarily translate into equal gains in STEM employment. Additionally, women, Blacks, and Hispanics remain far less likely than White or Asian men to be employed in most STEM occupations, particularly outside the life sciences. But little existing research studies trends over time in gender and race-ethnic differences in STEM employment or factors underlying these patterns. The proposed project will use seven waves of the National Science Foundation's (NSF's) Scientists and Engineers Statistical Data System (SESTAT) to study gender and race-ethnic differences in employment in STEM occupations among college graduates who hold a STEM degree.Broader Impacts: Government spending to educate and train STEM workers is considerable, reaching nearly 900 million by NSF in 2011 (American Institute of Physics, 2010). These investments and the need to increase the numbers of women and underrepresented minority scientists to maintain the future health of the STEM workforce (Burke, 2007; National Science Board, 2010) make retention of STEM workers in related occupations a critical policy issue. This project will enhance the ability of public- and private sector policy makers and program directors to develop and implement practices that encourage the retention of women and underrepresented minorities in STEM occupations.