New research and analysis from the nonprofit RAND Corporation found that women outpace men in earning the rising number of all types of bachelor’s and associate’s degrees. Yet they lag in doing so in STEM subjects.
In 2015, the most recent year for which data were available, only 31.1 percent of all bachelor’s degrees awarded to women were in STEM fields compared with 42.4 percent for men.
Furthermore, women with STEM degrees do not necessarily land in these fields. Only about 30 percent of women with STEM bachelor’s degrees go on to work in STEM fields compared with 49 percent of men.
Another report finding underscores the uphill climb for women: Men with a non-STEM bachelor’s degree have a slightly higher likelihood of working in a STEM occupation than do women with a STEM bachelor’s degree.
Once they get into STEM occupations, women confront pay disparities, RAND researchers found. They make much more — $10.37 an hour more — than women in non-STEM occupations. But women in STEM occupations earn less — $2.08 an hour less — than men in STEM occupations.
However, that is a smaller gap than the $5.62 an hour gender pay difference that women confront in non-STEM occupations. Getting more women into higher-paying STEM occupations, as well as reducing gender pay disparities in the sector could help reduce the overall gender pay gap, the report said.
Not all STEM occupations require a bachelor’s degree, but many of positions — such as nurses, home health aides, mechanics, engineering technicians, and information technology support — demand licenses and certifications.
Women with licenses or certifications, generally speaking, were more likely to find work and earn higher wages than women without such credentials, the RAND study found. The same advantage was found for Hispanics and people who lack high school degrees.
In examining trends by racial and ethnic group, the RAND researchers found:
