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Wednesday, January 16, 2019

Celebrating the International Year of the Periodic Table

The United Nations (U.N.) proclaims 2019 the International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements. As Jean-Paul Ngome-Abiaga, coordinator for the celebration of the Year at the U.N., says:

“The periodic table of chemical elements is one of the most important and influential achievements in modern science reflecting the essence not only of chemistry, but also of physics, biology and other disciplines.”

To join in the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the table’s creation by Dmitry Mendeleev, BLS has created our own periodic table! Since we agree with the U.N. coordinator, our table goes beyond chemistry and includes Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) occupations. Don’t worry, our table includes chemists, too. Workers in STEM occupations use science and mathematics to understand how the world works and to solve problems. We thank the Nebraska Department of Labor for the original idea for this table.

The Standard Occupational Classification System Policy Committee has identified several hundred STEM occupations. Here are some interesting BLS facts about STEM occupations:

  • There were nearly 8.9 million STEM jobs in May 2017, representing 6.2 percent of U.S. employment.
  • Employment in STEM occupations grew by 14.5 percent, or 1.1 million jobs, between May 2009 and May 2017, compared with 8.8 percent net growth in non-STEM occupations.
  • Employment in STEM occupations is projected to increase by 10.9 percent from 2016 to 2026, and this growth is expected to result in 1.0 million new jobs.

Our BLS Periodic Table of STEM occupations highlights a couple dozen jobs.

Want more STEM information?

Check out these STEM products from BLS:

Contact our projections information folks by phone, (202) 691-5700, or email.

Whatever your occupational information needs — whether STEM or non-STEM — we have a stat (or several) for that!

Topics: Career Outlook | Earnings and Wages | Educational Attainment | Employment | Employment Projections | Occupational Outlook Handbook | Occupations | Students (K-12)