Collaborative Research: Early Career Transitions into STEM Employment: Processes Shaping Retention and Satisfaction

德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校和康奈尔大学的研究人员正在实施一个项目，以了解STEM毕业生早期职业保留方面的巨大性别差异，特别强调调查就业条件、替代工作机会和工作环境在留住应届毕业生或推动他们进入非STEM领域方面所起的作用。各种研究表明，在就业的头几年里，即使是那些最初成功过渡到STEM劳动力的人，也会出现相当大的人员流失；STEM职业的女性离职率尤其高。然而，调查数据不太能够深入了解为什么个别STEM工作者选择退出他们的领域，以及做出这样的决定所涉及的过程。这项研究将有助于解释一些雇主现在声称的劳动力短缺的根源，并为政策和实践提供信息，以便更多训练有素的STEM毕业生，特别是女性，能够在STEM劳动力大军中建立成功的职业生涯。考虑到训练有素的STEM劳动力对确保美国在全球市场上的竞争力的重要性的政治和经济主张，包括女性和男性之间的转移在内的STEM就业高流动率的普遍问题是很重要的。研究人员将使用混合方法对200名化学和化学工程专业毕业生进行研究，以询问毕业后STEM就业的低转换率和保留率的原因。他们的目标是(1)收集和分析化学相关毕业生的工作期望、STEM就业的感知障碍或障碍以及影响第一份工作选择决策的因素的前瞻性数据；(2)识别化学相关专业毕业生在职业计划和家庭计划方面的性别差异，以及在初始职业安置方面的性别差异；(3)跟踪女性和男性在早期STEM职业生涯中的保留情况，并揭示人员流失的来源，特别是女性之间的差异流失。他们将使用从未在STEM领域工作过的化学相关毕业生和那些开始但随后转向非STEM工作的毕业生的比较组，以促进STEM和非STEM就业人员毕业后收入，向上流动性和工作满意度的比较。在毕业后的四年里，前瞻性分析领域保留的性别差异的能力使团队能够评判STEM就业中性别坚持的不同理论。

Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and Cornell University are implementing a project to understand large gender differences in occupational retention among STEM graduates in early career, with a particular emphasis on investigating the role played by employment conditions, alternative job opportunities, and workplace climate in retaining recent graduates or propelling them into non-STEM fields. Various studies report considerable attrition within the first few years of employment, even among those who successfully transition into the STEM labor force initially; exit rates from STEM occupations are particularly high among women. However, survey data are less able to provide in-depth knowledge of why individual STEM workers choose to exit their field and what processes are involved in making such a decision. This study will help explain the roots of the labor shortages now claimed by some employers and inform policy and practice so that more trained STEM graduates, especially women, are able to build successful careers in the STEM labor force. The general problem of high turnover in STEM employment, including diversion among women and men, is significant given political and economic claims made about the importance of a well-trained STEM labor force in ensuring U.S. competitiveness in a global marketplace.The researchers will use a mixed-methods approach to study a cohort of 200 chemistry and chemical engineering graduates to interrogate the reasons for the low transition and retention rates in STEM employment following graduation. Their aims are to (1) collect and analyze prospective data on the work expectations of chemistry-related graduates, perceived barriers or obstacles to employment in STEM, and factors affecting decision-making in the choice of first job; (2) identify gender differences in the career and family plans of chemistry-related graduates, as well as gender differences in initial occupational placement; and (3) track the retention of women and men in the early STEM career and expose the sources of attrition, especially differential attrition among women. They will use comparison groups of chemistry-related graduates who never worked in a STEM field and those who begin but subsequently divert to non-STEM jobs to facilitate the comparison of post-graduation earnings, upward mobility, and job satisfaction of those in STEM and non-STEM employment. The ability to prospectively analyze gender differences in field retention in the four years after graduation allows the team to adjudicate different theories of gendered persistence in STEM employment.