1 See the Technical Appendix in Indicators 2020 report “Science and Engineering Labor Force” for how these occupations were determined.

2 For the 2021 American Community Survey (ACS), the employed civilian population represents 62.3% of the non-institutionalized population ages 16–75 years, and the civilian population represents 77.1%. For the 2019 ACS, the employed civilian population represents 64.4% of the non-institutionalized population ages 16–75 years, and the civilian population represents 76.6%. For the 2021 National Survey of College Graduates (NSCG), the employed civilian population is 75.1% of the total NSCG population, and the civilian population is 98.7%.

3 Records that have occupation information in the ACS include those that are currently employed with a reported occupation or those that were employed within the past 5 years. Occupation data are not recorded for those who have never worked or who have not worked in the past 5 years.

4 Technical documentation for the ACS, including methodology, sample design, and weighting, can be found at https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/microdata/documentation.html.

5 Technical documentation for the NSCG, including methodology, sample design, and weighting, can be found at https://ncses.nsf.gov/surveys/national-survey-college-graduates/2021#sd.

6 Technical documentation for the SDR, including methodology, sample design, and weighting, can be found at https://ncses.nsf.gov/surveys/doctorate-recipients/2021#sd.

7 To calculate employment rates and labor force participation of STEM workers, workers are identified based on the occupation they currently hold or on the occupation they previously held if they are not currently working.

8 Employment rates are defined as a measure of the extent to which people available to work are being used. Because this thematic report is looking at occupation groups, the employment rate is for those with a current occupation or an occupation in the last 5 years. Note that the population associated with occupations is smaller than those who may be available to work, but may not have associated occupations, such as those individuals entering the labor force for the first time.

9 In this thematic report, data about race are only among workers who are not Hispanic. The grouping “Hispanic” is Hispanic workers of any race.

10 Major demographic groups are presented here. Analyses of other groups could not be presented due to small sample sizes in the categories of interest.

11 In this thematic report, data about race are only among workers who are not Hispanic. The grouping “Hispanic” is Hispanic workers of any race.

12 Among those with an S&E degree that held S&E-related occupations, Hispanic workers were significantly different from Black workers. Neither group was significantly different from Asian workers or White workers.

13 In this thematic report, data about race are only among workers who are not Hispanic. The grouping “Hispanic” is Hispanic workers of any race.

14 This methodology is based off the methodology used to identify “high-tech” industries in the BLS publication by Wolf and Terrell (2016). For this thematic report, the NCSES definitions of S&E, S&E-related, and middle-skill occupations were used to identify industries with at least 2.5 times the national concentration of each STEM group. Table SLBR-2 contains the national rates of each STEM group used to identify the industries.

15 Iowa, Indiana, Nebraska, and Alabama were not significantly different from Vermont. Nebraska was not significantly different from Louisiana or Kentucky. None of the listed states were significantly different from each other or from Arkansas, Mississippi, Wisconsin, North Dakota, or Alaska. Wyoming is the only state listed that was significantly different from Oklahoma or West Virginia.

16 The percentages provided are estimates of the percentage of workers. Thus, these are not explicit comparisons but descriptive discussions about the geographic distributions of larger and smaller populations of workers.

17 Information about the SIPP, including technical documentation, sampling, weighting, and survey nonresponse, can be found at https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/sipp/tech-documentation.html. The 2021 SIPP uses 2020 as the reference year. Employment status is taken from month 12 of the reference year. Certification questions were asked of respondents who were ages 18 years or older, regardless of educational attainment, and of respondents who were ages 16 years or 17 years if they had a high school diploma or GED. For ease of analysis, these numbers only include respondents with at least a high school diploma or GED.

18 S&E-related workers with an associate’s degree who have an educational certificate are not significantly different from those with some college who have an educational certificate.

19 Field of highest degree is defined by reported first or second major of the highest degree. It is in S&E if at least one major was in an S&E field. It is in S&E-related if both are not in S&E and at least one major was in a S&E-related field.

20 For this comparison, doctoral and professional degrees are both compared to master’s degree recipients because both categories are mostly comprised of terminal degrees.

21 In the NSCG, respondents are asked “To what extent was your work on your principal job related to your highest degree?” (Item A21, variable name OCEDRLP). In this thematic report, respondents who selected “Not related” are referred to as working out of field.

22 Individuals who are born outside of the United States but are citizens by birth usually have at least one parent who is a U.S. citizen and include many people who are born to U.S. military or foreign service personnel stationed abroad. These individuals have no restrictions on entering the United States, and unlike those born abroad without U.S. citizenship, they do not need to get a visa for work or school.

23 Consistent with the rest of the report, foreign-born STEM workers are non-institutionalized civilians ages 16–75 years who are employed in the United States.

24 Analyses using the ACS will show this population divided by naturalized citizens (14,044,900) and noncitizens (12,501,500) and includes the STW. Analyses using the NSCG, Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED), and SDR allow for the noncitizen, foreign-born S&E or S&E-related workers to be further disaggregated by permanent resident and temporary visa holders but do not include the STW or middle-skill occupations. These data sources will be used in combination to highlight different aspects of the foreign-born STEM workforce. A very small number of individuals in the NSCG reported being born in the United States and responded that they were not U.S. citizens; because these individuals were born in the United States, they are counted with the U.S-born population.

25 For this ACS analysis, country or economy of origin is the birthplace of the individual.

26 The SED provides intentions to stay, and the SDR—a subset of former SED respondents—allows calculation of stay rates for temporary visa-holding doctorate holders; these are data that other surveys focusing on the U.S. labor market cannot estimate.

27 Students who are Saudi Arabian nationals have notably lower levels of intent to stay than other students. This could be related to programs that fund their education abroad for those with the intent to return to Saudi Arabia. See https://educationusa.state.gov/scholarships/scholarships-available-saudi-students and Alkubaidi and Alzhrani (2020).