Report

1Data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) indicate that in fall 2019, 81% of undergraduate students and 71% of graduate students in degree-granting postsecondary institutions were within this age range (NCES Digest of Education Statistics 2021: table 303.50).

2The Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey defines money wages and salary as the “total money earnings received from work performed as an employee during the income year. It includes wages, salary, Armed Forces pay, commissions, tips, piece-rate payments, and cash bonuses earned, before deductions are made for taxes, bonds, pensions, union dues, etc. Earnings for self-employed incorporated businesses are considered wage and salary.” Census Bureau, March 2021 Annual Social and Economic Supplement. Available at https://www.census.gov/data/datasets/time-series/demo/cps/cps-asec.html.

3See S&E labor market conditions in NSB Indicators 2020: Science and Engineering Labor Force.

4The question on total wage and salary earnings in the Current Population Survey asks about earnings from the longest job held during the previous year (e.g., longest job held in 2020 for the 2021 Current Population Survey).

5See https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/race-and-ethnicity/2020/home.htm.

6Previous editions of this report examined undergraduate enrollment using data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), administered by the National Center for Education Statistics, which lacks data on students’ fields of study. For analysis of total undergraduate enrollment, see the Undergraduate Enrollment chapter of the NCES Condition of Education at https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cha/undergrad-enrollment.