The paper tackles the question of why the US doesn't produce enough undergraduate and graduate engineers and scientists. Most students are unaware of the kinds of salaries provided by alternative courses of study at different universities, and they too, value prestige and exclusivity.
Universities tend to steer graduates to non-science fields, offering easier grading.
The number of undergraduate degrees in engineering is no higher in 1995 than it was in 1981. The problem is even worse at the graduate level. While PhD output is up, PhD students finance their educations by taking research assistanships in academic environments. Higher funding for university research has increased the number of PhD students, but because they work on academic, rather than industrial, research, they get trained largely to function in an academic world, and end up seeking careers in teaching or further academic research.