This indicator represents the extent to which a state's workforce is employed in S&E occupations. A high value indicates that a state's economy has a high concentration of scientific and technical jobs relative to its total workforce. Policymakers and scholars consistently emphasize innovation based on S&E research and development as a vehicle for economic growth and competitiveness. In the increasingly interconnected 21st-century world, workers with S&E expertise are integral to a nation’s innovative capacity because of their high skill level, their creative ideas, and their ability not only to advance basic scientific knowledge but also to transform advances in fundamental knowledge into tangible and useful products and services.

U.S. federal occupation data classify workers by the activities or tasks they primarily perform in their jobs. This information is used to classify jobs into standard occupational categories based on the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system. S&E occupations are defined by SOC. They include engineers; computer, mathematical, life, physical, and social scientists; and postsecondary teachers in these fields. S&E managers, technicians, elementary and secondary schoolteachers, and medical personnel are not included.

Data on individuals in S&E occupations and all occupations come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) Survey, a survey of workplaces that assigns workers to a state based on where they work. Estimates are developed by BLS from data provided by state workforce agencies. The OEWS Survey covers all full-time and part-time wage and salary workers in nonfarm industries. The survey does not cover the self-employed, owners and partners in unincorporated firms, household workers, or unpaid family workers.

Estimates for states with smaller populations are generally less precise than estimates for states with larger populations.

Data source: Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics Survey.