ABSTRACT

Concerns over the supply of highly-skilled (HS) science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) workers are well established and have been a feature of policy discourse in the UK for more than 50 years. Since the 2016 referendum on leaving the European Union, these concerns have been exacerbated by uncertainty about the movement of labour between UK and Europe. More recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of STEM skills in a wide range of areas. However, despite continued government investment in initiatives to address these concerns, the evidence base for shortages is neither well-established nor compatible with economic theories of labour supply. In order to fill a gap in the current evidence, we report on a unique analysis following the career destinations of STEM graduates from the 1970 British Cohort Study. While only a minority of STEM graduates ever work in highly-skilled STEM jobs, we identified three particular characteristics of the STEM labour market that may present challenges for employers: STEM employment appears to be predicated on early entry to the sector; a large proportion of STEM graduates are likely to never work in the sector; and there may be more movement out of HS STEM positions by older workers than in other sectors.

摘要

50 多年来，对高技能 (HS) 科学、技术、工程和数学 (STEM) 工人供应的担忧已经确立，并且一直是英国政策讨论的一个特点。自 2016 年脱欧公投以来，英国和欧洲之间劳动力流动的不确定性加剧了这些担忧。最近，COVID-19 大流行突出了 STEM 技能在广泛领域的重要性。然而，尽管政府继续对解决这些问题的举措进行投资，但短缺的证据基础既不完善，也不符合劳动力供应的经济理论。为了填补当前证据的空白，我们报告了一项针对 1970 年英国队列研究的 STEM 毕业生职业目的地的独特分析。虽然只有少数 STEM 毕业生曾从事高技能 STEM 工作，但我们确定了 STEM 劳动力市场的三个特殊特征，可能会给雇主带来挑战： STEM 就业似乎取决于早期进入该行业；很大一部分 STEM 毕业生可能永远不会在该行业工作；与其他部门相比，老年工人离开 HS STEM 职位的人数可能更多。