High School STEM Courses and Midlife Occupation

• In Event: 56.076 - High School and Beyond: Effects of Equality and Inequality of Educational Opportunity at Midlife

Abstract

Objectives
The structure of jobs in the U.S. has polarized over the past three decades, with the share of employment for high skill and low skilled occupations increasing relative to that for middle skilled workers, (Acemoglu and Autor, 2011). At the same time, we have observed similar patterns in terms of wages; wage growth has been U-shaped in skill percentiles. Compared to high skilled and low skilled workers, middle skilled workers have been hurt the most. We investigate the long run effects of taking high school math, science, and computer programming courses on midlife occupation, around age 50.

Framework
Recent work suggests that outcomes of those in the middle of skill distribution strongly depended on the workers’ skills, with more able workers better adapting to the changing labor markets (Cortes, 2014). This paper examines the role of worker skills and preparation—more specifically, STEM skills—to help workers adapt to the changing labor market. Given the dramatic computerization we have observed over recent decades, we expect STEM knowledge and skill to be in high demand. While STEM occupations are generally considered as high skill jobs, there are a number of middle-skill occupations that are considered STEM occupations.

Methods & Data
We begin by using data from the American Community Survey and the O*NET to show that the middle skill occupations grew even when other middle skill jobs were lost. We then investigate whether the skills that people learned in high school helped them adapt to the changing workforce using the recently interviewed members of the High School and Beyond (HS&B)—a nationally representative sample of 1980 high school sophomores. We use data from the early waves of HS&B and the midlife follow-up along with recently coded occupation data to investigate the effects type of occupation respondents hold at midlife and whether their high school courses helped them to obtain higher skilled jobs even when their early adult jobs were taken into account.

Results
We find that college preparatory mathematics and science courses predict holding a STEM job in early adulthood and at midlife. The effects in midlife are observed even after postsecondary education and holding a STEM job in early adulthood are held constant, suggesting that the coursework contributed to individuals ability to adapt to the labor force changes. We also find strong positive effects of high school coursework on the wages associated with midlife occupation. These findings are robust to specifications that aimed at evaluating whether the relationship is causal.

Significance
Findings suggest the potential of an advanced STEM curriculum to help students adapt to labor market challenges over the life course.

Author

• Chandra Muller, The University of Texas - Austin