Addressing Racial Inequality in STEM: Numbers at a Glance

Martin Luther King's Day marks the historic celebration of the life of Martin Luther King Jr, a revolutionary in the civil rights movement that advocated for non-violent protest in order to achieve civil equality. The dream that Dr. King espoused throughout his life was one of racial equality and justice for many decades of mistreatment. 

Yet, many, many years after Dr. King's historic speech standing on the footsteps of the Lincoln Memorial, racial equality has not been achieved - specifically in the sciences. The importance of diversity cannot be overstated in the sciences. Though certainly the process of science is the pursuit of the truth, diversity helps science to ask the myriad questions. Our backgrounds, culture and life experiences shape the way we pose scientific questions regarding topics that are important to us. This not only helps us to accomplish more, but also helps the scientific community to check itself internally. 

Below, I've compiled a series of important figures that help show the racial divide in the United States as it relates to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) jobs. These jobs are including Professorship/graduate studies, jobs in technology-based companies, etc. 

The Figures:

 

Figure 1: A comparison between the resident typical workforce population distribution to the Science and Engineering workforce. As evident, white males are over-represented to their population distribution, with 51% representation even though they are 32% of the population. Females overall are more underrepresented, with Hispanic females represented at 2%, even though they compose 8% of our population. African American males also experience a 2% difference in representation.  The remarkable over representation of white males and females often justifies setting quotas when it comes to hiring in the sciences.

Figure 2: A comparison between Racial representation in STEM jobs compared to the overall workforce. As is evident, people identifying as 'Only White' compose of 67% of the overall workforce, which is also disproportional compared to the population statistics in Figure 1. STEM jobs also over-represent this population. Asians are also over-represented, as 5.5% compose the total workforce, though 14.5% compose the STEM jobs. Native Americans are largely under-represented in both sectors. Hispanic/Latinos are also under-represented in STEM jobs, similar to African Americans and Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders.

Figure 3: A distribution of identification in Science and Engineering. To note, this graph doesn't does not graph all STEM, but only that pertains to Science and Engineering. Percentage does not graph overall percentage, rather percentage within subset of net population workforce. This shows that approximately 47% of Asians/Pacific Islanders have jobs within the Science and Engineering Sector. Asians also continue to dominate throughout many other science fields, including Engineering and Biological science. African American involvement in Engineering is disproportional, as well as involvement in Biological and Computer Sciences. Social Sciences and Psychology seem to be the most equal subjects, with nearly equal percentage involvement.

Figure 4: Racial distribution of STEM Wage adjustment Premiums. The percentage change compares average income for that population to the STEM income for the particular population. Nonhispanic White STEM workers have 22% higher wages compared to their non-STEM counterparts. Non-Hispanic African Americans have on average a 39% higher wage compared to their non-STEM counterparts. This graph does not show original wage, however.

  Concluding Thoughts:

 

The racial divide that exists in this country has not been completely eliminated. Caucasian STEM workers are definitely over-represented in many areas of STEM work, as Figure 3 points out. Furthermore, African Americans experience under-representation for the population ratio of our workforce. In order to bridge this gap, there should be important change. Policy changes should focus on the following:

• Primary Education Science Investment: One of the first ways to improve STEM involvement and representation is to increase educational interest in STEM. Schools need to invest in science and technology education. In my last post, I referenced a study by the Cato institute that showed that the increase in educational investment did not result in an increase in test scores. However, investments should be towards certain areas. Many experts have recommended to shift focus from basic sciences with a sub-focus on applications to an application oriented learning when it comes to engineering. This sort of involvement could facilitate a better prepared workforce in STEM.  
• Job Training: Many adults who are interested in STEM jobs often don't have the technical skills to pursue those jobs. Thus, it's vital to bridge the gap between capacity and the desire to join the STEM workforce. The Hamilton Project, a program that provides job opportunity and education for unskilled workers by the Brookings Institution, argues that job training programs on the whole are largely effective. In a longitudinal study, they showed that adults that underwent their job training curriculum increased income by several thousands of dollars across the socioeconomic and racial spectrum. However, they did not isolate STEM training - if anything, this is an area of investigation.
  

There are a myriad of other researched solutions. Hopefully, the scientific community along with the government can come together to make a viable difference in the aforementioned racial disparity.