SCIENCE & ENGINEERING INDICATORS

Scientists and engineers perform their work and make their contributions across all sectors of the economy, including the business, education, and government sectors. Comprised mostly of for-profit businesses, but also including nonprofit organizations and the self-employed, the business sector (or “industry”) employed the most scientists and engineers in 2017 (71%) (Table 3-4). The education sector, including private and public institutions, employed another 18%—the bulk in 2-year and precollege institutions. The government sector—federal, state, and local—employed another 11%. This distribution pattern has been quite stable since the early 1990s. As the number of workers in S&E occupations doubled from 1993 to 2017, the proportion in the business sector—including that in for-profit businesses and nonprofit organizations—increased slightly (Table S3-4).

Some differences exist in the concentration of particular groups of S&E workers across employment sectors (Table 3-4; Figure 3-9; Table S3-5, Table S3-6). The business sector, including for-profit and nonprofit businesses and the self-employed, and the education sector including precollege, 2-year and 4-year institutions, are both prominent employers of S&E doctorate holders, while the education sector is a less prominent employer for other degree levels and overall (Figure 3-9). The for-profit business sector is a larger employer of engineers and computer and mathematical scientists relative to the remaining occupations, while 4-year academic institutions employ a larger share of life, physical, and social scientists relative to engineers and computer and mathematical scientists (Figure 3-10).

In 2017, over 4.7 million scientists and engineers (17%) reported being self-employed in either an unincorporated or incorporated business, professional practice, or farm (Table S3-5).^{​The data on self-employment from the National Survey of College Graduates (NSCG) include those who report being self-employed or employed by a business owner in an unincorporated or incorporated business, professional practice, or farm. As a result, the data may capture self-employed individuals in their own businesses and those whose principal employer is a business owner. This is a major reason why the NSCG estimate of self-employed workers in S&E occupations is higher than those from other surveys (e.g., the Census Bureau’s ACS).} Those working in S&E-related or non-S&E occupations reported higher levels of self-employment (16% and 22%, respectively) than those working in S&E occupations (11%).

S&E employment in the United States also varies by geography: a small number of geographic areas accounts for a considerable proportion of S&E jobs. For example, the 20 metropolitan areas with the largest S&E employment account for 42% of nationwide employment in S&E jobs, compared to about 31% of employment in all occupations (Table 3-5). The New York-Jersey City-White Plains, NY-NJ and the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metropolitan divisions have the largest numbers of workers in S&E occupations in 2017. The availability of a skilled workforce is an important indicator of a region’s population, productivity, and technological growth (Carlino, Chatterjee, and Hunt 2001; Glaeser and Saiz 2003).

Industries vary in their proportions of S&E workers. In 2017, four industry groups with the largest numbers of S&E workers—professional, scientific, and technical services; manufacturing; educational services; and government—accounted for about 65% of industry S&E employment, compared with 31% of total employment (Table 3-6).

S&E employment intensity, defined by an industry’s S&E employment as a proportion of its total employment, also varied by industry. Industries with low S&E employment intensity (below the national average) include large employers such as health care and social assistance, retail trade, and accommodation and food services. Those with high S&E employment intensity include information and utilities, among others (Table 3-6).

As noted earlier, the education sector is a large employer of scientists and engineers with doctoral degrees; the academic doctoral workforce plays an important role in training the next generation of scientists and engineers and advancing the nation’s basic research enterprise. In 2017, according to the Survey of Doctorate Recipients (SDR), there were about 390,000 science, engineering, and health (SEH) doctorate holders employed in the nation’s universities and colleges. At the doctoral level, health sciences are also included in S&E fields of study as these data at the doctoral level correspond to the doctor’s research/scholarship degree level, which are research-focused degrees. The majority of the academic doctoral workforce (about 327,000) received their doctorate in the United States, while the remainder received their doctorate abroad. The majority of SEH doctorate holders are employed as full-time faculty (including tenured and tenure-track positions); however, as a proportion of all academically employed SEH doctorate holders, those employed as full-time faculty have been in steady decline for four decades, decreasing from about 90% in the early 1970s to less than 70% in 2017 (Figure 3-11; Table S3-7).^{​Those with faculty rank may conduct research (e.g., research faculty, scientist, associate, fellow, postdoc) and hold an administrative position (e.g., president, provost, chancellor) or teach (e.g., teaching and adjunct faculty).} In addition, SEH doctorate holders with tenured positions accounted for approximately 54% of all academically employed SEH doctorate holders in 1997 and declined to 45% in 2017. The proportion of those in tenure-track positions also declined in share, while the proportion in positions outside of the tenure system increased from 1997 to 2017.

The overall distribution of SEH doctorate holders among for-profit businesses and 4-year educational institutions has also shifted. In 1993, nearly half of SEH doctorate holders (45%) were employed by universities and 4-year colleges, while 31% were employed by private, for-profit businesses (NCSES SDR 1993: Table 20). By 2017, these percentages were closer, with 39% in 4-year educational institutions and 35% in for-profit businesses (NCSES SDR 2017: Table 42).

The SEH doctoral academic workforce is engaged primarily in research and teaching. In 2017, nearly identical shares of U.S.-trained doctorate holders reported that research or teaching was their primary work activity—approximately 40% each (see Table S3-8). Historically, this was not the case: the 1973 share of these doctorate holders engaged in teaching as a primary work activity (62%) far exceeded the share engaged primarily in research (26%). Federal research support holds a prominent role for academically employed SEH doctorate holders. In 2017, about 40% of them had received federal research support in the previous year (Table S3-9).

R&D creates new types of goods and services that contribute to economic productivity and growth and enhance living standards. R&D workers are defined here as those who reported basic research, applied research, design, or development^{​From Frascati Manual 2015: Guidelines for Collecting and Reporting Data on Research and Experimental Development (https://read.oecd-ilibrary.org/science-and-technology/frascati-manual-2015/concepts-and-definitions-for-identifying-r-amp-d_9789264239012-4-en#page3, accessed 19 February 2019), the term R&D covers three types of activities: basic research, applied research, and experimental development. Here the term R&D includes the activity of design.} as a primary or secondary work activity in their principal job (i.e., activities that rank first or second in total work hours from a list of 14 activities).^{​The other 10 activities are used to define 4 additional broad categories of primary or secondary work activities: teaching; management and administration; computer applications; and professional services, production workers, or other work activities not specified.} This analysis includes R&D workers in all sectors (including business, education, and government). The majority of people in S&E occupations (57%) are R&D workers, and so are considerable proportions of those in S&E-related (22%) and non-S&E occupations (18%) (Figure 3-12), suggesting that R&D-based work activities are prevalent in various types of jobs. In general, S&E doctorate holders indicated higher rates of R&D activity than those with a bachelor’s or master’s degree as their highest degree (Table 3-7).