The question of why so many people leave science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) jobs continues to echo through social science research and Government policy. This is not surprising given the considerable investments into uptake and quality of STEM education and that STEM workers have a pivotal role to play in addressing current and future grand challenges. Yet, too many individuals with tertiary degrees in STEM—disproportionately women, racial minorities, and the underprivileged—leave or pursue careers in non-STEM fields. While demand for employment in STEM continues to grow, such persistent STEM defections present a significant challenge. We offer an integrative special issue of eight empirical articles capturing current thinking and evidence on employee retention and turnover, both within and beyond the realm of STEM. Our thematic analysis of the articles reveals overarching themes around the fundamental question of why people choose to stay in their jobs and why they leave. From this, we provide a future research agenda recognizing the myriad work and nonwork factors influencing the desire and ability to stay in one's chosen profession, particularly in critical sectors where gender and minority attrition rates prevail.

中文翻译：

---

遏制潮流：职业和营业额的新视角

为什么这么多人放弃科学、技术、工程和数学 (STEM) 工作的问题继续在社会科学研究和政府政策中引起共鸣。鉴于对 STEM 教育的吸收和质量的大量投资，以及 STEM 工作者在应对当前和未来的重大挑战中发挥着关键作用，这并不奇怪。然而，太多拥有 STEM 高等教育学位的人（其中女性、少数族裔和弱势群体）离开或在非 STEM 领域寻求职业。虽然 STEM 领域的就业需求持续增长，但这种持续的 STEM 叛逃带来了重大挑战。我们提供了包含八篇实证文章的综合特刊，捕捉了 STEM 领域内外有关员工保留和流动率的当前思考和证据。我们对文章的主题分析揭示了围绕人们为什么选择留在工作岗位以及为什么离开工作这一基本问题的总体主题。由此，我们提供了一个未来的研究议程，认识到影响留在所选职业的愿望和能力的无数工作和非工作因素，特别是在性别和少数族裔流失率普遍存在的关键领域。