Scientist

The STEM workforce continues to gradually diversify

Report: National Science Foundation tracks gains by women, underrepresented groups, and people with disabilities in STEM careers
-

About a quarter of the U.S. workforce is employed in STEM occupations, according to a new report from the National Science Foundation, and that workforce is slowly diversifying.

The NSF report argues that diversity is key to the growth of the nation’s economy and, importantly, for workers themselves.

“A diverse workforce provides the potential for innovation by leveraging different backgrounds, experiences, and points of view. Innovation and creativity, along with technical skills relying on expertise in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), contribute to a robust STEM enterprise. Furthermore, STEM workers have higher median earnings and lower rates of unemployment compared with non-STEM workers.”

Here are some of the key findings of the Diversity and STEM: Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities report:

  • “Of the 146.4 million people ages 18 to 74 in the workforce, 34.9 million (24%) were employed in STEM occupations in 2021. Although men and women represented similar proportions of the total workforce  – 52% men and 48% women – a greater share of men (29%) than women (18%) worked in STEM occupations.”
  • “The U.S. STEM workforce gradually diversified between 2011 and 2021, with increased representation of women and underrepresented minorities – Hispanics or Latinos, Blacks or African Americans, and American Indians or Alaska Natives.”
  • “Among racial or ethnic groups, Asian workers had the highest share employed in STEM (39%), whereas the lowest share was among Black workers (18%). Within the other racial and ethnic groups, 20% to 25% worked in STEM.”
  • “Workers with one or more disabilities represent a small proportion (3%) of the total workforce. Among workers with at least one disability, 21% worked in STEM occupations, which is slightly less than the 24% of nondisabled workers in STEM occupations.”

The report also looks at the level of education received by people in the STEM workforce.

You can read the full report here.

Gain access to Essential Stories that Drive Change

Receive compelling updates and in-depth analysis of the latest trends shaping the People With Disabilities.
Select how often you'd like to receive insights:

Dana Beth Ardi

Executive Committee

Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.

Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.

Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.

Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.

Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.

Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.