More Latinos enrolled in college but remain underrepresented among workers in science, tech, engineering and mathematics

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The Hispanic population of the United States has grown rapidly in recent decades, as has the number of Hispanic students who are enrolled in college. Despite this growth, Hispanic Americans remain underrepresented among workers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) jobs. This is the case even though demand for STEM workers is on the rise and they have higher median wages than non-STEM workers.

So what might encourage more Hispanic Americans to pursue STEM careers? We asked Hispanic Americans about this topic in a 2021 Pew Research Center survey. The survey also asked college-educated Hispanic STEM workers about positive and negative schooling experiences they may have faced on the road to their careers.

Among advocates for increased diversity in STEM fields, “representation matters” is a common refrain. Hispanic Americans tend to agree with the sentiment.

*80% of Hispanic adults say that young Hispanic people would be more likely to pursue a STEM degree if they saw more examples of Hispanic high achievers in STEM. This includes 50% who say it would help a lot, and another 31% who say it would help a little.

*75% say that more Hispanic student representation in STEM degree programs at the typical university would make young Hispanic people more likely to pursue these degrees.
69% say that having a Hispanic high school STEM teacher would help.

*Hispanic adults with a college education are more likely than those without a four-year degree to see all three of these models as helpful. This view is especially predominant among first-generation college attendees: 60% say that more examples of high achievers would make young Hispanic people a lot more likely to pursue STEM degrees, compared with 51% of those who were not the first in their family to attend college.

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