Many Americans attribute the limited diversity of the STEM workforce to a lack of encouragement for girls and blacks and Hispanics to pursue STEM from an early age; 39% of Americans consider this a major reason there are not more women in some STEM areas, and 41% say this is a major reason there are not more blacks and Hispanics in the STEM workforce.

In addition, 42% of Americans say limited access to quality education to prepare them for these fields is a major reason blacks and Hispanics are underrepresented in the STEM workforce; this view is held by a majority of those working in STEM who are black (73%) and about half of Hispanics (53%), Asians (52%) and whites (50%) in STEM jobs.

These are some of the findings from a Pew Research Center survey with a nationally representative sample of 4,914 adults (including 2,344 STEM workers), ages 18 and older, conducted July 11-Aug. 10, 2017 and a Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. The survey, conducted online in English and in Spanish, included an oversample of employed adults working in science, technology, engineering and math fields.

When women and those in racial and ethnic minority groups working in STEM were asked to say, in their own words, the best ways to attract more people like themselves to STEM, many emphasized the importance of quality schooling and an early start to encouraging people into the field with repeated support over time. A few examples:

“You must introduce those fields early in the elementary school years. Then continue to build on that by establishing STEM clubs and activities. Provide information to parents about local/community STEM events for continued interests. Most of all, make sure that any STEM student has the rigorous preparation that will be needed to get them accepted into college and able to handle the nature of the college level classes.” – Black woman, nurse, 49

“K-8 teaching needs to be designed to make these subjects more interesting and accessible to girls. Teachers need to be explicit about the need for more women in STEM jobs, and help girls feel that they have a reason to pursue these fields in spite of the somewhat intimidating gender breakdown of higher level classes.” – White woman, math teacher, 42

“Providing opportunities such as putting upgraded computers and/or science labs in inner-city schools, libraries and community centers. Black men currently in the STEM industries must be visible to the younger generation in order to show the value of those skills and the career implications.” – Black man, systems engineer, 30

These findings come on the heels of at least four decades of research about how to better foster diversity in the STEM workforce in the U.S. and globally.