Florida STEM Career Statistics
General/Academic Achievement:

​​STEM professions and occupations are among the highest paying jobs, according to Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. They are also the basis for a successful, globally competitive and innovative Florida and U.S. economy. However, Florida lags in conferring STEM focused post-secondary and graduate degrees compared to national average:

  • Bachelor degrees in natural science and engineering conferred per 1,000 Individuals age 18-24 yrs.

    2007:  FL 5.8    U.S. 8.1

  • 36 science and engineering graduate students per 1,000 individuals age 25-34 yrs.

    2007:  FL 9.1    U.S. 12.3

Workforce: 

  • Although women fill close to half of all jobs in the U.S. economy, they hold less than 25 percent of STEM jobs. This has been the case throughout the past decade, even as college-educated women have increased their share of the overall workforce. -– 

    Women in STEM: A Gap to Innovation, 2011 Economics & Statistics Administration; U.S. Department of Commerce

  • Women with a STEM degree are less likely than their male counterparts to work in a STEM occupation; they are more likely to work in education or healthcare.

    Women in STEM: A Gap to Innovation, 2011 Economics & Statistics Administration; US Department of Commerce

  • Women comprise 48 percent of the U.S. workforce but just 24 percent of STEM workers, according to the Census Bureau’s 2009 American Community Survey.

  • Over the past decade, women and minorities earned a small and shrinking share of STEM credentials, according to an FSU 2010 report.

  • In 2001, women accounted for 35.4 percent of STEM degrees conferred across the state and only 29 percent in 2009, though they make up 49 percent of the college age population.

Employment:

  • STEM jobs remain in demand, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

  • Data shows that there are 1.4 jobs for every 1 unemployed person within the STEM sector compared to 4.1 unemployed people for every 1 job across other industries.

  • On average, men and women earn $36.34 and $31.11 per hour, respectively, in STEM jobs – higher than the $24.47 that men earn and $19.26 that women earn, on average, in other occupations.

  • For every dollar earned by a man in STEM, a woman earns 14 cents or 14 percent less, smaller than the 21 percent gender wage gap in non-STEM occupations, but a clear gender disparity nonetheless.

  • Female STEM degree holders earn 9 percent more than women with other degrees, regardless of their job. The STEM degree premium for men is somewhat higher at nearly 12 percent.

  • The biggest STEM-related wage premiums go to men and women who both major in a STEM field and choose a STEM job. This career path nets women 29 percent higher hourly earnings, on average, than their peers who have neither a STEM degree nor a STEM job. The corresponding premium for men is smaller, but also sizeable, at 23 percent.

Broward County: 

  • Broward County Public Schools has established STEM programs at six District Middle Schools (Apollo, Lauderhill, Margate, McNicol, Parkway, and Silver Lakes) in order to increase STEM interest and participation for all students, including girls/women. The current enrollment in these programs is approximately 53 percent male and 47 percent female.