<p>(Washington, D.C., Oct. 20, 2011) A new report from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce shows that 65 percent of Bachelors degrees in STEM (science, engineering, technology and mathematics) occupations earn more than Masters degrees in non-STEM occupations. Similarly, 47 percent of Bachelors degrees in STEM occupations earn more than PhDs in non-STEM occupations. Furthermore, even people with only STEM certificates can earn more than people with non-STEM degrees; for instance certificate holders in engineering earn more than Associates degree-holders in business and more than Bachelors degree-holders in education.</p>
<p>STEM provides choice for people both immediately after school and at mid-career, allowing people to transition to different and oftentimes more lucrative career pathways, including management and healthcare that provide long-term stability and excellent wages. says Anthony P. Carnevale, the Centers director and the reports lead author.
The report details STEM earnings by occupation, race, sex, and education level, and finds:
For women and minorities, STEM is the best equal opportunity employer.
For women and minorities, STEM is a good news/bad news story. Women and minorities are underrepresented in STEM.
But for those who do persist, the pay gap in STEM between women and minorities and White men is smaller in STEM than in any other occupation.
STEM pays more than most jobs at each level of education, and at the graduate level is exceeded only by a small sliver of managerial and healthcare occupations.
Over 70 percent of STEM workers at the high school or some college level make more than the average for workers in all other occupations at the same education level. More than two-thirds of Associates degree-holders in STEM make more than the average for all Associates degree-holders.
STEM training pays more even if you dont work in a STEM occupation.
Workers majoring in STEM in college earn more than all other majors over their lifetimes, even if they work in non-STEM occupations.
Apart from the full national report, STEM contains a state-level analysis of STEM jobs. STEM is available online at Center</a> on Education and the Workforce -. Hard copies can be obtained by contacting the Center at <a href="mailto:cewgeorgetown@georgetown.edu">cewgeorgetown@georgetown.edu</a>.
The Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce is an independent, nonprofit research</p>
<p>I’d be curious as to how getting a MS/PhD shapes up over the lifetime of the degree for a STEM person. I know a PhD isn’t a money-making degree, but I’d be curious about the MS.</p>
<p>According to a rep from a pharmaceutical company that I talked to, a PhD or an MBA is required to advance up the ranks on the business side. So while MS can command high salaries, they typically have a ceilling on their salaries.</p>
<p>I make considerably more than my relatives who are teachers with bachelors and slightly more than my uncle who is teacher with his masters. I have s two year associates degree in nursing and am a registered nurse…</p>
<p>But! Their benefits far far exceed mine. I am virtually slave labor. They have summers off, every weekend off, wonderful benefits, sick days, retirement. I have $hitty 401k, work 11-7, have 12 days of vacation, no sick days and terrible consequences if you call off, have to fight.for my fmla right when my kids have surgeries and appsts. It is horrible. Then my working conditions, work with high turn over of nurse assistants who get burned out because for example, last night we had to work with 5 nurse aids for 130 residents. It was hell on earth.</p>
<p>I work 4 days a week and make pretty good money but my family of teachers are much better off in the long run. Trust me. And this is not saying they.don’t deserve these benefits. They do! They work many hours over the regular school day!! </p>
<p>Please keep that in mind when you talk about all these rich people in the medical field. It isn’t all cracked up to be what many assume.</p>
<p>What this survey seems to be saying is that at every level of education, there is a percentage of STEM people who earn more than… the average (or maybe the median? The unclear presentation of data is obscuring some important details here) non-STEM person with the same/better education. Which would of course imply that at every level of education, there is a percentage of non-STEM people who earn more than the average STEM person with the same/worse/better education. Those percentages may well be much smaller, but if this piece had focused on them, the implied message would have been completely different. The last two sentences are especially tendentious.</p>
<p>Funny how people never think about what they’re actually reading when someone’s waving percentages at them.</p>
<p>“But! Their benefits far far exceed mine. I am virtually slave labor. They have summers off, every weekend off, wonderful benefits, sick days, retirement.”</p>
<p>gosh, you are in the wrong place. It is true my wife works one weekend a month. But she has excellent benefits, retirement AND 401k, sick days, FMLA, holidays, sets her own schedule within the day, never sees a doctor (and gives them orders for what the patient needs), never sets foot in a hospital. And in her 3rd year, makes WAY more than the median 3rd year masters level engineer. (and lives in a wonderful, relatively low-cost area.)</p>
<p>You’re confusing a press release with an actual study (or survey as you call it). You can read the results, there is a link. The means of the distributions tell a pretty consistent story here. Not exactly earth shattering but there also isn’t some kind of conspiracy with numbers, lol.</p>
<p>Doesn’t say anything AT ALL about job stability. Real STEM jobs, the ones actually doing STEM work, are notoriously unstable. Sure these kids right out of school find jobs that may be higher paying than most philosophy majors, but no one ever studies to see how long or just how many jobs people in STEM have held over a span of 10 years. STEM has been overrated beyond belief.</p>
<p>While the second is true, it’s comparing two equal degrees (4 year for each). The former is comparing different levels of degrees if it’s read correctly.</p>
<p>I’m of the belief that people should look for the niche where they “fit in” whether that be STEM or not. Money is nice, but it isn’t everything if someone is working in a job they don’t particularly care for. Plus, if one doesn’t particularly care for the job they aren’t as likely to be one of the top earners. It doesn’t surprise me that, on average, STEM earns more. It’s very much as surprising as:</p>
<p>The title of this thread is confusing. An Associate’s Degree is a two-year non-terminal degree from a community college. I think you’re talking about Bachelor’s degrees vs. Master’s degrees, right?</p>
<p>The point is that folks can earn more on average, almost immediately, with an AA degree, rather than EITHER a B.A. or Masters’ degree, whether STEM or not.</p>