Essays on the STEM Trainee Labor Market

Abstract

This dissertation consists of three essays on the careers of science, technology, engineering, and math- ematics (STEM) Ph.Ds. The first essay constructs the career paths of 156,089 research doctorate holders over six job types and two employment statuses. Comparing STEM Ph.D. cohorts from 1950 to the present, postdoctoral positions have become increasingly prevalent despite the lengthening of doctoral training and reduced likelihood of obtaining an academic tenure-track position. I find evidence that postdoctoral positions allow STEM Ph.Ds. to persist in high-intensity academic research environments, albeit not necessarily on the tenure-track, at the cost of significant lifetime earnings. The second essay examines how constraints, such as dedicating time to childcare, may deter certain types of individuals from persisting in academia. I examine how a biological science Ph.D.’s first child’s birth affects career trajectory and contributes to the academic tenure-track gender gap. Although there is no gender gap in tenure-track rates among individuals prior to the birth of their first child, mothers’ reductions in work hours after having children lead to a 10 percentage point gender gap among tenure-track faculty. Because this child penalty is not observed in other job types such as industry and non-tenure track, I conclude that the long hours required by the tenure track’s “up-or-out” structure deter mothers from these positions. Much work remains to fully examine the factors that affect STEM Ph.D. career trajectories and the frictions that deter underrepresented groups from aca- demic research. The third chapter thus provides a guide to the available data resources for studying STEM Ph.D. careers. This white paper assists meta-researchers by detailing the application process, advantages, and shortcomings of current data collection. Examining the factors that affect STEM Ph.D. careers can inform policymakers on effective strategies for recruiting and retaining the research workforce.