The Matching of STEM Degree Holders with STEM Occupations in Large Metropolitan Labor Markets in the United States

Richard Wright, Mark Ellis and Matthew Townley

Economic Geography, 2017, vol. 93, issue 2, 185-201

Abstract: Workers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) are vital for regional and national prosperity. Not every person with STEM qualifications, however, finds employment in a STEM job. This article analyzes the geography of this matching between STEM degree holders and certain types of STEM occupations across large metropolitan labor markets in the United States. We find that although labor-market size has no effect, living in denser STEM labor markets elevates the probabilities of matching; having an advanced degree enhances this effect. Women are also far less likely to be matched than men; being black or Latino additionally lowers the chances of matching. Combining spatial effects with individual attributes increases probabilities of matching in places with high concentrations of STEM jobs for women, racial minorities, and the foreign born, but these advantages are often the same for white, native-born men. In denser STEM labor markets the job-matching advantage spans the labor pool, conferring no differential benefit for different population subgroups.

Date: 2017
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00130095.2016.1220803 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:recgxx:v:93:y:2017:i:2:p:185-201

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/recg20

DOI: 10.1080/00130095.2016.1220803

Access Statistics for this article

Economic Geography is currently edited by James Murphy

More articles in Economic Geography from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().