U.S. Department of Commerce

Economics and Statistics Administration

48%

24%

52%

76%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

All jobs STEM jobs

Men

Women

By 

David Beede,

Tiffany Julian,

David Langdon,

George 

McKittrick,

Beethika Khan, 

and 

Mark Doms, 

Office of the 

Chief Economist

Women in STEM: A Gender Gap to Innovation 

August 2011

Executive Summary

ESA 

Issue Brief 

#04-11

O

ur science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) workforce is crucial to America’s 

innovative capacity and global competitiveness. Yet women are vastly underrepresented in 

STEM jobs and among STEM degree holders despite making up nearly half of the U.S. workforce 

and half of the college-educated workforce. That leaves an untapped opportunity to expand 

STEM employment in the United States, even as there is wide agreement that the nation must do 

more to improve its competitiveness.

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 collegeeducated women have increased their share of the overall workforce.

Women with STEM jobs earned 33 percent more than comparable women in non-STEM jobs –

considerably higher than the STEM premium for men. As a result, the gender wage gap is 

smaller in STEM jobs than in non-STEM jobs. 

Women hold a disproportionately low share of STEM undergraduate degrees, particularly in 

engineering. 

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.

There are many possible factors contributing to the discrepancy of women and men in STEM 

jobs, including: a lack of female role models, gender stereotyping, and less family-friendly 

flexibility in the STEM fields. Regardless of the causes, the findings of this report provide evidence of a need to encourage and support women in STEM. 

Figure 1. Gender Shares of Total and STEM Jobs, 2009

Source: ESA calculations from American Community Survey public-use microdata.

Note: Estimates are for employed persons age 16 and over.
2 U.S. Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration

(thousands of workers)

Male Female Percent Female

2000 2009 2000 2009 2000 2009

All workers 69,098 73,580 60,619 67,058 47% 48%

College-educated 18,995 22,167 16,415 21,433 46% 49%

STEM workers 5,321 5,640 1,680 1,790 24% 24%

College-educated 3,259 3,738 1,002 1,199 24% 24%

Women in STEM jobs

The acronym STEM is fairly specific in nature—

referring to science, technology, engineering and 

math—however, there is no standard definition for 

what constitutes a STEM job. Science, technology, 

engineering and math positions consistently make 

the lists of STEM occupations, but there is less 

agreement about whether to include other positions such as educators, managers, technicians, 

healthcare professionals and social scientists. In 

this report, the Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA) defines STEM jobs to include professional and technical support occupations in the 

fields of computer science and mathematics, engineering, and life and physical sciences. Three management occupations are also included because of 

their clear ties to STEM.1Education jobs are not 

included because of the nature of the available 

data.2In addition, social scientists are not included.3

ESA’s STEM list contains 50 specific occupation 

codes (see Appendix Table 1), and in 2009, there 

were 7.4 million workers in these jobs, representing 5.3 percent of the workforce. To better put 

these jobs into context, we divide STEM occupations into four categories: computer and math, engineering and surveying, physical and life sciences, 

and STEM managerial occupations.4Across all levels of educational attainment, the largest group of 

STEM jobs is within the computer and math fields, 

which account for close to half (47 percent) of all 

What is STEM? STEM employment. Second are engineering and 

surveying occupations, representing approximately 

one-third of all STEM employment, while 12 percent are in the physical and life sciences, and 8 percent in STEM management jobs.5

Parallel to our list of STEM occupations, we also 

identify a set of STEM undergraduate degree fields 

that span computer science and mathematics, engineering, and life and physical sciences (see Appendix Table 2). We define STEM degree holders as 

persons whose primary or secondary undergraduate major was in a STEM field. Consistent with the 

occupations selected for this report, we exclude 

business, healthcare, and social science majors.6

According to the Census Bureau’s 2009 American 

Community Survey (ACS), women comprise 48 percent of the U.S. workforce but just 24 percent of 

STEM workers. In other words, half as many 

women are working in STEM jobs as one might expect if gender representation in STEM professions 

mirrored the overall workforce. (See Figure 1.) 

This underrepresentation has remained fairly constant over the past decade, even as women’s share 

of the college-educated workforce has increased. 

As shown in Table 1, between 2000 and 2009, 

women’s share of the STEM workforce remained 

constant at 24 percent, while their share of all college-educated workers increased from 46 to 49 

percent. Using data from the Census Bureau’s CurTable 1. Total and STEM Employment by Gender and Educational Attainment, 2000 and 2009

Source: ESA calculations from Census 2000 and 2009 American Community Survey public-use microdata. 

Note: Estimates are for employed persons age 16 and over. 
U.S. Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration 3

rent Population Survey (CPS) going back to 1994, 

almost identical trends emerge.

Among STEM jobs, women’s representation has 

varied over time. While the female share has declined in computer and math jobs, their share has 

risen in other occupations. In 2009, women comprised 27 percent of the computer and math workforce (the largest of the four STEM components), a 

drop of 3 percentage points since 2000. (See Table 

2.) Engineers are the second largest STEM occupational group, but only about one out of every seven 

engineers is female. Interestingly, the number of 

female engineers edged up by 12,000 over nine 

Table 2. Employment in STEM Occupations in 2009

years, while the number of male engineers declined 

by 106,000. In physical and life sciences jobs, however, women made up about 40 percent of the 

workforce in 2009, up from 36 percent in 2000. 

STEM managers is another area that has shown 

growth, with women’s share of the workforce increasing to 25 percent. 

Men are much more likely than women to have a 

STEM job regardless of educational attainment. 

Figure 2 demonstrates that higher education levels 

generally correspond to an increased likelihood of 

having a STEM job for both men and women. The 

gap lessens somewhat at the doctoral level, but 

No College Some college Associate 

degree 

Bachelor's 

degree

Master's 

degree

Doctorate Professional 

degree

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

Men

Women

Figure 2. Share of Workers in STEM Jobs

by Gender and Educational Attainment, 2009

Source: ESA calculations from American Community Survey public-use microdata.

Note: Professional degrees include medical, dental, veterinary, and law degrees. Estimates are for employed 

persons age 16 and over. 

Source: ESA calculations from Census 2000 and 2009 American Community Survey public-use microdata. 

Note: Estimates are for employed persons age 16 and over. 

(thousands of workers)

Male Female Percent Female

2000 2009 2000 2009 2000 2009

STEM total 5,321 5,640 1,680 1,790 24% 24%

Computer science and math 2,202 2,534 940 929 30% 27%

Engineering 2,185 2,079 318 330 13% 14%

Physical and life sciences 551 553 310 374 36% 40%

STEM managers 382 474 111 157 23% 25%
4 U.S. Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration

percent) less, smaller than the 21 percent gender 

wage gap in non-STEM occupations, but a clear 

gender disparity nonetheless.

While illustrative, these simple comparisons do not 

take into account the many factors that can help 

explain why STEM workers tend to earn more than 

non-STEM workers, or why women earn less than 

men. Following the methodology of our earlier 

STEM report, we use regression analyses to control 

for many of these factors, including workers’ age, 

educational attainment, and region of residence. 

The results of these analyses underscore both the 

STEM earnings premium and the gender earnings 

gap. 

In our previous report on this issue, we found that 

STEM workers earn significantly more than their 

non-STEM counterparts in the private sector. So, 

one way to compare men and women in STEM is to 

see to what extent their STEM earnings premium 

varies. Our analysis shows that, all else being equal, 

women in STEM jobs earn 33 percent more than 

their female peers in other jobs, while the STEM 

premium for men is 25 percent.

STEM worker earnings and gender

women still lag far behind men in STEM employment.7

There are two notable findings in examining the 

relationship between STEM, gender and earnings. 

First, as is clearly documented in our previous report “STEM: Good Jobs Now and for the Future,” 

STEM workers earn considerably more than their 

non-STEM counterparts (what we call in this report 

the “STEM earnings premium”). Second is the gender wage gap – a robust finding that women earn 

considerably less than men, even after controlling 

for a wide set of characteristics such as education 

and age. Figure 3 highlights how these two findings 

intersect by showing the average hourly earnings of 

full-time, year-round workers in private sector 

STEM and non-STEM jobs. 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 

$36.34

$24.47

$31.11

$19.26

$0

$10

$20

$30

$40

STEM jobs Non-STEM jobs

Men

Women 14% gender wage gap:

For every dollar earned by a man, 

women in STEM earn $0.86.

21%

Figure 3. Average Hourly Earnings by Gender and Occupation, 2009

Source: ESA calculations from American Community Survey public-use microdata. 

Note: Estimates are for full-time year-round private wage and salary workers age 16 and over. 
U.S. Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration 5

Given that the STEM premium for women is higher 

than for men, we would expect women in STEM to 

face a smaller gender earnings gap than women in 

other occupations. Not surprisingly, we find that 

the gap shrinks but does not disappear for women 

in STEM. Furthermore, as we look at more specific 

groups of STEM workers (which allows us to make 

better “apples-to-apples” comparisons of male and 

female wages), we find an even smaller gender 

wage difference. Figure 4 shows the regressionadjusted gender wage gap for college-educated 

STEM workers in each of the four major occupational groups. Interestingly, the most maledominated STEM occupational group—engineers—

is also the one with the smallest regressionadjusted wage gap; female engineers earned 7 percent less per hour than male counterparts. Physical 

and life sciences occupations, the most genderbalanced STEM group, have an 8 percent wage gap, 

and STEM managers a 9 percent gap. Notably 

higher was the 12 percent gender wage gap in computer and math occupations.

Since the gateway to many high-paying STEM jobs 

is a STEM degree, it is useful to examine the extent 

to which college-educated workers had STEM degrees. The 2009 ACS provides a rich new data 

source for analyzing the link between undergraduate studies and subsequent employment. The ACS 

data on undergraduate fields of study show that 

women account for nearly half of employed college 

graduates age 25 and over, but only about 25 percent of employed STEM degree holders and an 

even smaller share – just about 20 percent – of 

STEM degree holders working in STEM jobs. 

There were 2.5 million college-educated working 

women with STEM degrees in 2009 compared with 

6.7 million men. What makes this disparity even 

more alarming is that, in the overall labor force, 

there are 21.4 million women (49 percent of the 

total) and 22.2 million men who are employed and 

have bachelor’s degrees. 

Among STEM majors, the distribution of men and 

12% 12%

7%

8%

9%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

14%

STEM 

total

Computer 

and math

Engineering Physical and 

life sciences

STEM

managerial

Figure 4. Regression-adjusted Gender Wage Gap of 

College-educated STEM Workers by Occupation, 2009

Source: ESA calculations from American Community Survey public-use microdata. 

Note: Estimates are for full-time year-round private wage and salary workers age 25 and over. 

STEM degrees and fields of study 

by gender
6 U.S. Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration

31%

57%

48%

18%

15%

14%

6% 10%

0%

25%

50%

75%

100%

Men Women

6.7 million workers 2.5 million workers

Math degree

Computer degree

Engineering degree

Physical and life sciences degree

STEM degrees and careers 

by gender STEM premiums and gender

Source: ESA calculations from American Community Survey public-use microdata. 

Note: Estimates are for employed persons age 25 and over. The shares for men and women do not add up 

to 100% due to rounding. 

Figure 5. College-educated Workers with a STEM Degree 

by Gender and STEM Degree Field, 2009

women differs significantly. As shown in Figure 5, 

well over half (57 percent) of female STEM majors 

study physical and life sciences, while fewer than 

one-third (31 percent) of men choose these fields. 

The share of women choosing math majors is also 

higher than men: 10 versus 6 percent. The bulk of 

men with STEM majors (48 percent) choose engineering degrees, two-and-a-half times the share of 

women who choose engineering. Equal shares of 

male and female STEM majors enter computer science. In terms of raw numbers, however, men in 

the workforce with STEM degrees outnumber 

women across all four fields of study.8

STEM jobs. (See Figure 6.) 

Men are more likely to have non-STEM management jobs than women, 16 percent and 11 percent, 

respectively. In contrast, female STEM majors are 

twice as likely as men to work in education or 

healthcare. Nearly one in five STEM collegeeducated women works in healthcare occupations, 

compared with about one in ten men. Likewise, 

approximately 14 percent of female STEM majors 

end up in education occupations, compared with 

approximately 6 percent of men. Similar shares of 

men and women with STEM degrees worked in 

business and financial occupations or other fields. 

As noted in the previous section, college-educated 

women are much less likely than men to major in 

STEM fields. But even when women choose STEM 

degrees, their typical career paths diverge substantially from their male counterparts. About 40 percent (2.7 million) of men with STEM college degrees 

work in STEM jobs, whereas only 26 percent (0.6 

million) of women with STEM degrees work in 

As highlighted in our earlier STEM report, receiving 

a STEM degree tends to result in higher earnings 

later in life. Figure 7 illustrates the considerable 

extent to which the earnings premium from having 

a STEM job or STEM degree varies by gender. 

Women enjoy a much bigger STEM job premium 

than men, but a slightly smaller premium for having 

earned a STEM bachelor’s degree. Specifically, 

when we control for whether or not women have 
U.S. Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration 7

40%

26%

6%

14%

10% 19%

16% 11%

5% 6%

23% 23%

0%

25%

50%

75%

100%

Men Women

6.7 million workers 2.5 million workers

STEM occupations

Education occupations

Healthcare occupations

Non-STEM managers

Business & financial occupations

Other occupations

Source: ESA calculations from American Community Survey public-use microdata. 

Note: Estimates are for employed persons age 25 and over. The shares for men and women do not add up 

to 100% due to rounding. 

Figure 6. College-educated Workers with a STEM Degree 

by Gender and STEM Occupation, 2009

11%

20%

12%

9%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

Men Women

23%

29%

STEM degree

STEM job

STEM degree 

and job

Source: ESA calculations from American Community Survey public-use microdata. 

Note: Estimates are for full-time year-round private wage and salary workers who have at least a 

bachelor’s degree and are age 25 and over. 

Figure 7. Wage Premium from Having a STEM Job and/or Degree

STEM degrees, we find that college-educated 

women (regardless of choice of undergraduate major) earn 20 percent more in STEM jobs than elsewhere. This is nearly double the 11 percent premium that college-educated men realize working in 

STEM. On the other hand, 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.
8 U.S. Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration

Conclusion

This report finds that women are underrepresented 

both in STEM jobs and STEM undergraduate degrees and have been consistently over the last decade. The relatively few women who receive STEM 

degrees are concentrated in physical and life sciences, in contrast to men, who are concentrated 

primarily in engineering. Women who do receive 

STEM degrees are less likely to work in STEM jobs 

than their male counterparts. And while women 

working in STEM jobs earn less than their male 

counterparts, they experience a smaller gender 

wage gap compared to others in non-STEM occupations. 

The underrepresentation of women in STEM majors and jobs may be attributable to a variety of 

factors. These may include different choices men 

and women typically make in response to incentives in STEM education and STEM employment –

for example, STEM career paths may be less accommodating to people cycling in and out of the workforce to raise a family – or it may be because there 

are relatively few female STEM role models. Perhaps strong gender stereotypes discourage women 

from pursuing STEM education and STEM jobs. 

While this report does not – and cannot – explain 

why gender differences in STEM exist, it does aim 

to provide data and insight that will enable more 

informed policymaking. The findings provide definitive evidence of a need to encourage and support women in STEM with a goal of gender parity. 

Given the high-quality, well-paying jobs in the fields 

of science, technology, engineering and math, 

there is great opportunity for growth in STEM in 

support of American competitiveness, innovation 

and jobs of the future. 
U.S. Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration 9

Appendix Table 1. Detailed STEM occupations and Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) 

Occupation

SOC 

Code Occupation SOC code

Computer and math occupations

Computer scientists and systems analysts 15-10XX

Network systems and data communications 

analysts

15-1081

Computer programmers 15-1021 Mathematicians 15-2021

Computer software engineers 15-1030 Operations research analysts 15-2031

Computer support specialists 15-1041 Statisticians 15-2041

Database administrators 15-1061

Miscellaneous mathematical science occupations

15-2090

Network and computer systems administrators 15-1071

Engineering and surveying occupations

Surveyors, cartographers, and photogrammet- 17-1020 Materials engineers 17-2131

Aerospace engineers 17-2011 Mechanical engineers 17-2141

Agricultural engineers 17-2021

Mining and geological engineers, including 

mining safety engineers

17-2151

Biomedical engineers 17-2031 Nuclear engineers 17-2161

Chemical engineers 17-2041 Petroleum engineers 17-2171

Civil engineers 17-2051 Engineers, all other 17-2199

Computer hardware engineers 17-2061 Drafters 17-3010

Electrical and electronic engineers 17-2070 Engineering technicians, except drafters 17-3020

Environmental engineers 17-2081 Surveying and mapping technicians 17-3031

Industrial engineers, including health and safety 17-2110 Sales engineers 41-9031

Marine engineers and naval architects 17-2121

Physical and life sciences occupations

Agricultural and food scientists 19-1010 Physical scientists, all other 19-2099

Biological scientists 19-1020 Agricultural and food science technicians 19-4011

Conservation scientists and foresters 19-1030 Biological technicians 19-4021

Medical scientists 19-1040 Chemical technicians 19-4031

Astronomers and physicists 19-2010 Geological and petroleum technicians 19-4041

Atmospheric and space scientists 19-2021 Nuclear technicians 19-4051

Chemists and materials scientists 19-2030

Other life, physical, and social science technicians 19-40XX

Environmental scientists and geoscientists 19-2040

STEM managerial occupations

Computer and information systems managers 11-3021 Natural sciences managers 11-9121

Engineering managers 11-9041
10 U.S. Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration

Computer majors

Computer and information 

systems

Computer science Computer administration 

management and security

Computer programming and 

data processing Information sciences Computer networking and telecommunications

Math majors

Mathematics Statistics and decision science Mathematics and computer 

science

Applied mathematics

Engineering majors

General engineering Environmental engineering Petroleum engineering

Aerospace engineering Geological and geophysical 

engineering Miscellaneous engineering

Biological engineering Industrial and manufacturing 

engineering Engineering technologies

Architectural engineering Materials engineering and 

materials science

Engineering and industrial 

management

Biomedical engineering Mechanical engineering Electrical engineering technology

Chemical engineering Metallurgical engineering Industrial production 

technologies

Civil engineering Mining and mineral 

engineering

Mechanical engineering related 

technologies

Computer engineering Naval architecture and marine 

engineering

Miscellaneous engineering 

technologies

Electrical engineering Nuclear engineering Military technologies

Engineering mechanics physics 

and science

Physical and life sciences majors

Animal sciences Genetics Physical sciences

Food science Microbiology Astronomy and astrophysics

Plant science and agronomy Pharmacology Atmospheric sciences and 

meteorology

Soil science Physiology Chemistry

Environmental science Zoology Geology and earth science

Biology Miscellaneous biology Geosciences

Biochemical sciences Nutrition sciences Oceanography

Botany Neuroscience Physics

Molecular biology Cognitive science and 

biopsychology

Nuclear, industrial radiology, and 

biological technologies

Ecology

Appendix Table 2. Detailed STEM undergraduate majors
U.S. Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration 11

Endnotes

1 These occupations are computer and information 

systems managers, engineering managers, and natural sciences managers.

2 Although our principal data source, the 2009 American Community Survey (ACS), collects detailed information on workers’ occupations, it does not break 

out educators by their specific field. As a result, it is 

not possible to distinguish math and science professors from other professors. Data from the Bureau of 

Labor Statistics’ Occupational Employment Statistics 

program show that there are roughly 200,000 postsecondary teachers in STEM fields, and so their exclusion is unlikely to materially affect our results.

3

The National Science Foundation does count social 

scientists among “science and engineering jobs” in 

keeping with the agency’s mission supporting “all 

fields of fundamental science and engineering, except 

for medical sciences.” This report, however, follows a 

different approach.

4 Note that persons in science occupations include 

not just scientists but also science technicians. Likewise, engineering and surveying occupations include 

engineering technicians and drafters, and computer 

occupations range from computer support specialists 

to computer software engineers.

5

The estimates reported in this paragraph are based 

on 2009 data from the American Community Survey 

(ACS). The estimates are very similar to those cited in 

STEM: Good Jobs Now and For the Future (http://

www.esa.doc.gov/Reports/stem-good-jobs-now-andfuture), p. 2, which were based on 2010 data from 

the Current Population Survey. The estimates are 

very similar but not exactly the same because they 

were drawn from different samples of workers in two 

different years.

6

In the few cases where both the primary and secondary undergraduate majors were in STEM fields, we 

used the primary major as the STEM major.

7 Few persons with professional degrees (e.g., MBA’s, 

law, and medicine) work in STEM jobs because such 

U.S. Department of Commerce

Economics and Statistics Administration

1401 Constitution Ave., NW

Washington, DC 20230

www.esa.doc.gov

Technical inquiries:

Office of the Chief Economist

(202) 482-3523

The authors are economists in the Office of the Chief 

Economist of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s 

Economics and Statistics Administration.

Media inquiries: 

Office of Communications

(202) 482-3331

The Commerce Department’s Economics and 

Statistics Administration has released two 

other reports detailing the roles of women in 

American society. The first, Women-Owned 

Businesses in the 21st Century, was released in 

October 2010. The second, Women in America: 

Indicators of Social and Economic Well-Being, 

was released in March 2011. Both reports can 

be found at http://www.esa.doc.gov/reports

persons typically have jobs that we do not characterize as STEM.

8 Using data from a different source, the number of 

bachelor’s degrees conferred annually in STEM fields 

in the United States increased about 20 percent between 1998 and 2008 (from 200,000 to 240,000). But 

women’s share has not risen and remains far below 

parity with men (35 percent in both years), despite 

the fact that a majority of all bachelor degrees are 

conferred on women (56 percent in 1998 and 57 percent in 2008). About one-quarter of bachelor’s degrees awarded to men are in STEM fields, compared 

with one-tenth conferred on women; these shares 

have remained about the same between 1998 and 

2008. About two-thirds of STEM degrees awarded to 

men were in engineering and computer science, compared with one-quarter awarded to women. Over 

half of STEM degrees awarded to women were in 

biological sciences compared with 20 percent for 

men. See U.S. Department of Commerce, Economics 

and Statistics Administration and Executive Office of 

the President, Office of Management and Budget 

(2011) Women in America: Indicators of Social and 

Economic Well-Being (http://www.esa.doc.gov/sites/

d e f a u l t / f i l e s / r e p o r t s / d o c u m e n t s /

womeninamerica.pdf), p. 23.