A Quarter of College Graduates and About Half of Doctorate Holders in Science and Engineering Occupations Were R&D Workers in 2019

Daniel Foley and Alexis Doreste Rodriguez

NSF 22-339

 | 

September 29, 2022

Employed college graduates and doctorate holders performing R&D, by broad occupation: 2019
Keyboard instructions

Employed college graduates and doctorate holders performing R&D, by broad occupation: 2019

(Percent)
Occupation College graduate, all degree levels
Doctorate holder
All occupations 7 31
All science and engineering occupations 23 49
Computer and mathematical scientists 12 38
Biological, agricultural, and other life scientists 59 70
Physical and related scientists 47 56
Social and related scientists 30 29
Engineers 22 49
Source(s):

National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, National Survey of College Graduates, 2019, https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf22310.

In 2019, among the 50.5 million employed college graduates in all occupations across the nation, approximately 3.7 million (7%) were R&D workers (that is, graduates who reported that their primary work activity was in basic research, applied research, or experimental development). Roughly 1 in 5 (23%) of approximately 7.5 million graduates in science and engineering (S&E) occupations were R&D workers. Among the subset of 2 million employed doctorate holders in all occupations, approximately 638,000 doctorates (31%) reported that their primary work activity was in R&D. Roughly half (49%) of the 938,000 doctorate holders in S&E occupations were R&D workers. Biological, agricultural, and other life scientists had the highest concentration of R&D workers among them (59%), followed by physical and related scientists (47%)—concentrations within these two groups of scientists were even higher for those with a doctorate degree. These findings and other characteristics of employed college graduates in the workforce with a degree in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) can be found in the report National Survey of College Graduates: 2019.

Note: NCSES recently revised its definition of R&D workers to better align with international data on R&D employment. See the InfoBrief Measuring R&D Workers Using NCSES Statistics.

Suggested Citation: Foley D, Doreste Rodriguez A; National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES). 2022. A Quarter of College Graduates and About Half of Doctorate Holders in Science and Engineering Occupations Were R&D Workers in 2019. NSF 22-339. Alexandria, VA: National Science Foundation. Available at https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf22339/.

NSF 22-339

 | 

September 29, 2022

Daniel Foley and Alexis Doreste Rodriguez

NSF 22-339

 | 

September 29, 2022

About the Survey