Comparison of STEM and Geoscience Occupation Growth Over the Next Decade

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Recent discussions have focused on the current and future job market for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduates, and AGI has received multiple requests for comparisons between the geoscience workforce and the STEM workforce.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), there are approximately 300,000 geoscientists and 8.7 million STEM workers employed in the United States with average median salaries of $83,811 and $81,413 respectively. Both annual median salaries are well over the overall annual median salary of $35,080 in the U.S. workforce.

Over the next decade, the BLS projects a 14% increase in geoscience jobs and a 13% increase in STEM jobs. This predicted growth is a bit higher than the overall average growth of 11% for all occupations in the United States. Within the geosciences, environmental scientists and environmental engineers are predicted to have the most workers, increasing to 103,200 and 61,400 jobs respectively, and the occupations with the greatest increase in jobs will be petroleum engineers (26%) and geographers (29%). Within STEM, computer occupations and engineers are predicted to have the most workers, increasing to 4.3 million and 1.7 million jobs respectively, and the occupations with the greatest increase in jobs will be within the mathematical sciences (26%) and computer occupations (18%).