Is the STEM Shortage a Myth?

Don't be so quick to blame colleges and universities for the shortage of engineers and scientists in the U.S. A new study by professors at Rutgers and Georgetown reveals that the number of graduates in those fields have remained the same since the late 1990s, but after leaving school, those top students have turned to other careers in finance and consulting, Business Week reports.

The report findings contradict the popular idea that blames schools for the shortage of STEM professionals. Instead, report authors say, the bulk of the responsibility for increasing engineers and scientists lies with companies.

"Despite decades of complaints that the United States does not have enough scientists and engineers, the data show our high schools and colleges are providing an ample supply of graduates," said study co-author Hal Salzman, a public policy professor at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. "It is now up to science and technology firms to attract the best and the brightest graduates to come work for them."

The study, titled Steady as She Goes? Three Generations of Students through the Science and Engineering Pipeline, was conducted with funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, a New York-based nonprofit that focuses on science education.

The report says money could be a key factor, and that highly qualified students may be choosing non-STEM jobs because they pay better. STEM employers, however, said the jobs pay well, but the talent pool remains small. Meanwhile officials from tech industries have said that the decline in computer science course offerings have limited the number of qualified workers.

Other industry professionals critized the report for lumping all students into one STEM category. But authors said it would have been too difficult and costly to try and divide them among the individual instrustries.

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