Meng takes part in Congressional hearing on STEM workforce shortage

U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-Queens), the top Democrat on the Small Business Subcommittee on Contracting and Workforce, today took part in the panel’s hearing that probed the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workforce shortage in the United States, and how the problem is affecting the current and future economic health and viability of small businesses.

In particular, the committee examined ways to reduce barriers that prevent high-tech firms from hiring qualified STEM workers. Meng discussed improving the quality of STEM education, increasing the quality of teacher training and the lack of available visas for overseas applicants.

“American small businesses have STEM jobs available but not enough people to fill them,” said Meng. “Finding ways to combat this critical shortage is essential to ensuring that the U.S. economy remains one of the most innovative and competitive economies in the world.”

Below is the opening statement Meng delivered during the proceeding which was entitled “Help Wanted: The Small Business STEM Workforce Shortage and Immigration Reform.”

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Statement: “Education is the foundation of America’s economy, providing the tools for discovery and the skills to participate in an evolving global economy. Perhaps no fields are more important to this reality than science, technology, engineering, and mathematics – the so-called STEM disciplines. For many small businesses, success is often dependent on being able to hire these STEM-educated workers. Without them, small firms would be left without the workforce they need to innovate and grow.

It is easy to see the importance of STEM to the U.S. economy. STEM occupations have lower unemployment rates and higher pay, showing a high demand for this workforce. Workers with an undergraduate major in STEM make a half-million more over their careers than non-STEM majors.

During the last 10 years, growth in STEM jobs was three times as fast as growth in non-STEM jobs and workers in these fields are less likely to experience joblessness than their non-STEM counterparts. As a result, it is clear that STEM education is playing a vital role in America’s economy.

Over the long-term, its role will expand even further. According to research from Georgetown University, STEM occupations will grow far more quickly than the economy as a whole and by 2018 there will 2.4 million job openings in STEM fields. Finding workers to fill these positions will be essential, both to the companies in these sectors and the overall competitiveness of America’s economy.

The primary way to fill these positions is through increasing education in these fields. In this respect, the federal government is playing a major role, providing more than $3 billion in STEM education funding through a wide-range of agencies, including NSF, HHS, and the Department of Education.

These initiatives are critical to improving two areas at the center of STEM education: graduate study and K-12 teacher training. Supporting graduate education in computer science, engineering, and mathematics will encourage more students to pursue a STEM path. Fellowships and stipends for graduate study are crucial in this regard. Doing so will increase the supply of STEM workers, allowing U.S. businesses to achieve their full potential.

Similarly, increasing the quality of teacher training at the elementary and high school levels will help reverse the reluctance of many young students to pursue STEM education. This is important because the Lemselson-MIT Invention Index has shown that 34 percent of young adults did not know much about the fields, a third said they were too challenging, and 28 percent said that their schools did not prepare them for STEM education. Simply put, investment in these teacher training programs can reverse these trends.

Another important mechanism to filling STEM position is through immigration. H1-B visas are the primary way that a foreign STEM worker would gain access to the U.S., but with only 85,000 spots this year’s limit was hit in just 10 days since taking applications. The result is that fewer foreigners trained in scientific fields are coming to America.

Not only does this mean that it is harder to find qualified employees, but it means lower rates of entrepreneurship. To this point, according to research completed by the Kaufmann foundation, the proportion of immigrant-founded companies nationwide has slipped by one percent, and in Silicon Valley, the percentage of immigrant-founded start-ups declined from by nearly 10 percent. Fewer startups mean less growth and fewer jobs – both of which we need.

With these complex policy issues before us, I am looking forward to today’s hearing, which will provide insights into what our country can do to prepare and attract a STEM workforce.

Doing so is essential for the U.S. to remain one of the most innovative and competitive economies in the world. Understanding how we can increase the quality of STEM education, while encouraging greater participation in these scientific fields is imperative not just for America’s workers and businesses, but for the U.S. economy overall.

I thank the Chairman for convening this hearing and yield back.”

Witnesses for the hearing included John Tyler, General Counsel and Secretary at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, Missouri; Nagappa Ravindra, President of Ravi Engineering and Land Surveying, P.C. in Rochester, New York; Ryan Costella, Director of Strategic Initiatives at Click Bond in Carson City, Nevada and Morgan Reed, Executive Director of the Association for Competitive Technology in Washington, D.C.

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