Title : More Than 10.3 Million U.S. Residents Have Science or Engineering Degrees Type : 1995 Data Briefs NSF Org: SBE / SRS Date : November 14, 1995 File : sdb95340 Note: The companion binary file to this text file is an Adobe Acrobat.PDF (Portable Document Format) file. In order to view and print this file, you must use the Adobe Acrobat Reader. The Acrobat reader is available from Adobe via Ftp. Ftp to ftp.adobe.com anonymous <------User email name <------Password Change the directory to: pub/adpbe/applications/acrobat/Windows <----Windows reader or pub/adobe/applications/acrobat/mcintosh <----MacIntosh reader or pub/adobe/applications/acrobat/unix <----Unix reader Download the relevent Acrobat Reader file, entitled ACROREAD.EXE. You may freely distribute the reader program. by Mark C. Regets --------------------------------------- Individuals with bachelor's or master's degrees in science or engineering earn more than their counterparts in other fields. --------------------------------------- More than 10.3 million U.S. residents in 1993 had at least one college degree in a science or engineering (S&E) field. Individuals with bachelor's or master's degrees in science or engineering earn more than those with bachelor's or master's degrees in non-S&E fields. This Data Brief presents these and other selected statistics on bachelor's and master's degree scientists and engineers from data just released from the 1993 National Survey of College Graduates (NSCG). The NSCG is a National Science Foundation followup survey of the education and labor market experiences of 215,000 individuals under age 76 who held a bachelor's degree or higher in any field at the time of the 1990 census. Tables and micro records from the NSCG will be available soon on the Division of Science Resources Studies' World Wide Web site (http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/stats.htm) or on a public-use computer file on tape available from NSF. [Graphic Chart 1 is omitted in this ASCI version.] Chart 1 shows the number of individuals holding science or engineering degrees for various degree levels and fields. Since many individuals have more than one degree in science or engineering, the totals across degree levels or across fields of degree are higher than the total number of individuals holding any science or engineering degree. Whereas 10.3 million individuals have some degree in science or engineering, 9.2 million have a bachelor's degree in an S&E field, and 2.3 million have a master's or professional degree in such a field. These numbers are likely to underestimate total S&E degrees since the NSCG excludes those with no college degree prior to April 1990. Of approximately 29.0 million total college graduates, 4.2 million individuals have a degree in social science, 4.0 million in natural science, and 2.5 million in engineering. Although fewer than half of individuals with S&E bachelor's or master's degrees work as scientists or engineers (bachelor's: 28.6 percent, master's: 59.3 percent), many more work in jobs they say are related to the field of their highest degree. Table 1 shows the occupational distribution of individuals categorized by the field and level of their highest degree. Only 29.6 percent of those with S&E bachelor's degrees and 31.5 percent of S&E master's degrees work in non-S&E jobs unrelated to their highest degree. Table 1. Occupations of individuals with bachelors and masters degrees in science and engineering: 1993 __________________________________________________________________________ Closely Somewhat Field of Same Other related related Unrelated high degree field S&E non-S&E non-S&E non-S&E __________________________________________________________________________ Bachelor's __________________________________________________________________________ Engineering......... 52.8 5.9 8.7 13.2 19.4 Life sciences....... 10.0 7.1 25.6 20.8 37.0 Math/computer science........ 35.3 3.9 12.9 16.5 31.4 Physical sciences... 22.1 17.7 20.8 22.3 25.2 Social sciences..... 1.5 4.2 32.1 27.4 34.9 __________________________________________________________________________ Masters/professional degree __________________________________________________________________________ Engineering......... 57.8 10.5 5.3 10.8 15.6 Life sciences....... 28.4 8.3 11.3 12.7 39.3 Math/computer sciences........ 44.8 7.2 5.2 13.0 29.8 Physical sciences... 43.2 18.5 9.3 9.0 20.0 Social sciences..... 19.3 4.0 13.1 16.9 46.7 ___________________________________________________________________________ SOURCE: NSF/SRS, National Survey of College Graduates, 1993 The median annual salary of those with bachelor's degrees in science and engineering is 17.6 percent greater than the median salary of those with bachelor's degrees in non-S&E fields (table 2). At the master's/professional degree level, the S&E advantage in median salary is 6.1 percent-lower in part because of the inclusion of medical doctors in the non-S&E category at this educational level. The highest median salaries are in engineering (bachelor's: $51,000, master's: $58,200) and the lowest in the social sciences (bachelor's: $35,400, master's: $40,000) and life sciences (bachelor's: $36,000, master's: $40,000). Table 2. Distribution of annual salaries of bachelor's and master's degree recipients, by field and level of highest degree, as of April 1993 Math/ Life computer Physical Social Percentile All Eng. sciences science science science Non-S&E S&E _____________________________________________________________________________ Bachelor's _____________________________________________________________________________ 25th percentile..$30,000 $40,000 $27,000 $33,000 $32,000 $26,000 $26,000 Median............42,000 51,000 36,000 44,100 43,700 35,400 35,700 75th percentile...57,200 65,000 48,000 57,600 60,000 50,000 52,000 _____________________________________________________________________________ Master's/professional degree _____________________________________________________________________________ 25th percentile..$35,500 $46,200 $30,000 $41,000 $37,000 $30,000 $33,000 Median............48,800 58,200 40,000 52,200 50,300 40,000 46,000 75th percentile...65,000 72,000 51,700 70,000 69,800 54,000 68,400 ________________________________________________________________________________ SOURCE: NSF/SRS, National Survey of College Graduates, 1993 The salary advantage for S&E bachelor's degree graduates increases over the course of a career. Chart 2 shows median salaries for bachelor's degree graduates by field of degree and graduation year. For 1988-92 graduates, there is a 12.3-percent salary advantage for S&E graduates over non-S&E ($32,700 to $28,600). This advantage grows to 30.8 percent for 1963-67 graduates ($51,000 to $39,000) after 26 to 30 years in the labor market. Again, the lowest S&E salaries are in the social and life sciences. For master's/professional degree graduates, the salary advantages over non-S&E graduates are more constant, rising to only 8.8 percent 26 to 30 years after graduation. [Graphic Chart 2 is omitted in this ASCI version.] This Data Brief was prepared by Mark C. Regets, Division of Science Resources Studies, National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 965, Arlington VA 22230. For free printed copies of SRS Data Briefs, write to the above address, call 703-306-1773, or send e-mail to pubs@nsf.gov.