Stem Education and Employment

Jobs that require STEM skills and training currently comprise 20 percent of all jobs in the U.S.economy. Current projections anticipate that the STEM economy will grow about 9 percent between 2014 and 2024—faster than the growth rate projected for all other occupations. As an industry that supports 7.6 percent of the U.S economy and 10.3 million American jobs, many of which are STEM jobs, the oil and natural gas industry has a great interest in better understanding and promoting the relationship between STEM education and employment.

In addition to the millions of jobs already supported by the industry, IHS projects that through 2035 nearly 1.9 million direct job opportunities will be available in the oil and natural gas and petrochemical industries. This includes close to 707,000 job opportunities projected to be filled by Blacks and Hispanics, and more than 290,000 projected to be filled by women. A significant number of these positions will require strong skills in the STEM disciplines across all education levels.