Idaho moving backward in producing STEM graduates

Idaho’s workforce gets a lot of praise from the new companies that choose the Treasure Valley. Arriving CEOs say Idahoans are hard working, honest and reliable.

For the last half-dozen years, state lawmakers, economic development officials, educators and many business owners have been trying to add "educated in science, technology, engineering and mathematics" to that list. They say a STEM-educated workforce attracts good employers that pay well.

Yet it appears southwestern Idaho has been moving backward on producing degree-holding STEM workers. A new study from Economic Modeling Specialists International, a labor market research company in Moscow, says the number of engineering and information technology degrees awarded declined in southwestern Idaho between 2003 and 2012, despite vigorous efforts in those years to build up existing STEM academic programs, add new ones and attract high school students to enroll in them.

by Anne Wallace Allen

Full Story: http://idahobusinessreview.com/2013/08/01/backward-movement-in-producing-stem-graduates/