A new national report, Career Insights: Women, STEM, and the Talent Shortage., offers insights are based on data gathered from the test results of more than 100,000 female high school juniors and seniors across the nation who completed a YouScience Discovery assessment. The findings uncover a significant career exposure gap for women, as their aptitude scores for STEM-related occupations far outweighed their self-defined interest in them.
According to a 2021 ManpowerGroup survey, talent shortages in the U.S. have more than tripled in the last ten years, with 69% of employers struggling to fill positions, up from just 14% in 2010. Globally, estimates show that by 2030, the talent shortage could reach 85.2 million people, resulting in the loss of trillions of dollars in economic opportunity for companies.
YouScience garnered the insights by analyzing student's self-defined interest in top careers versus their aptitude for success in those careers, including STEM and other high-paying opportunities. The data includes the top 50 most frequent career matches from a selection of 500.
Key highlights from the report conclude that women have:
- More than 10x the aptitude than interest in careers in architecture and engineering
- Nearly 4x the aptitude for careers in computers and mathematics than interest
- 31x more aptitude than interest for careers in installation, maintenance, and repair across numerous industries such as computers, automotive, telecommunications, and more
- Nearly 13x more aptitude than interest for careers in production industries such as aviation, food processing, electrical, among others
Providing students early career exposure in key industries and providing insights as to where their natural talents lie can help reduce or eliminate the country's talent shortage. Self-bias and traditional career exposure through family, friends and media often limit student's, especially women's, perception and knowledge of potential college and career pathways.
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