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，旨在了解STEM毕业生在职业生涯早期的职业保留方面的巨大性别差异，重点调查就业条件、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。各种研究报告称，在就业的头几年内，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；女性从STEM职业中的离职率尤其高。然而，调查数据较少能够深入了解为什么个别STEM工人选择离开他们的领域，以及做出这样的决定涉及哪些过程。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。STEM就业的高流动率，包括女性和男性之间的分流，这一普遍问题是重要的，因为政治和经济上关于训练有素的STEM劳动力对于确保美国在全球市场上的竞争力的重要性的主张。研究人员将使用混合方法研究200名化学和化学工程毕业生的队列，以询问毕业后STEM就业的低过渡率和保留率的原因。其目的是(1)收集和分析关于化学相关毕业生的工作期望、在STEM就业的感知障碍或障碍以及影响选择第一份工作的决策的因素的预期数据；(2)确定化学相关毕业生在职业和家庭计划中的性别差异，以及在最初的职业安置中的性别差异；(3)跟踪STEM职业生涯早期男女的留住情况，并揭示人员流失的来源，特别是女性之间的人员流失差异。他们将使用从未在STEM领域工作的化学相关毕业生和那些开始但后来转行从事非STEM工作的化学相关毕业生组成的比较小组，以便于比较STEM和非STEM工作人员的毕业后收入、向上流动和工作满意度。能够前瞻性地分析毕业后四年内现场留任的性别差异，使团队能够裁决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 roles 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.