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STEM Job Shortage

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STEM Job Shortage
This month we look at the STEM job shortage. The proponents of STEM say that we have an acute shortage of STEM graduates. But is that true? One indicator is employment numbers. Let’s take 2012. In that year we had twice as many people with STEM degrees (immigrants and native born) than STEM jobs available. 5.3 million STEM jobs vs. 12.1 million people with STEM degrees. With less than half of the immigrants with STEM degrees were working in STEM jobs. Wages are good measure of labor demand. If STEM graduates were in short suppy, wages would increase. Real hourly wages grew from 2000 to 2012 .7 percent and annual wages grew at .4% per year. Modest. Why do we hear that we need more STEM graduates? Greed and politics.
Big businesses want a perceived

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