Stem Jobs
According to a report from Forbes magazine, the number of science, technology, engineering and mathematics jobs – also known as STEM jobs – in the U.S. represent one of the fastest-expanding sectors. Between 2004 and 2014, this industry grew over 30 percent faster than other notoriously high-growth fields, like health care and professional business services. The source, in collaboration with Mark Schill, research director at Praxis Strategy Group, looked at where these types of jobs were flourishing across the country. While traditional tech hotspots still earned places toward the top of the list, a number of somewhat unexpected cities showed burgeoning STEM communities as well.
To compile the list, Schill and Forbes looked at overall changes in employment for tech companies, taking into account all employees, even ones whose duties don’t directly relate to technological work. He also looked at STEM-related job growth in companies whose larger mission would not be classified as relating to technology. The No.1 city on the list was Austin, Texas. Between 2004 and 2014, tech industry jobs grew by almost 74 percent in this city. STEM occupation growth came in at 36.4 percent over the same span of time.
Raleigh, North Carolina, earned the second spot on the list. Over the course of the decade indicated in the report, Raleigh experienced a tech industry job growth of 62.3 percent and a STEM occupation growth rate of 39 percent. WRAL 5 reported that North Carolina has been active in getting STEM jobs into the region. The state’s school system recently received a $1 million donation for an initiative known as STEMAccelerator, which will place a larger emphasis on STEM education in public schools.
Other cities that ranked highly were San Jose, California; Houston, Texas; San Francisco, California; Salt Lake City, Utah; Seattle, Washington; Nashville, Tennessee; Jacksonville, Florida; and Memphis, Tennessee.