On Mar. 13, 2024, the National Science Board (NSB) published The State of U.S. Science and Engineering 2024, which shows that although the United States performs more research and development than any other country, the nation’s global position is slipping, as countries in East and Southeast Asia, particularly China, increase their activities.
The National Science Board (Board, NSB) is required under the National Science Foundation (NSF) Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1863 (j) (1) to prepare the biennial Science and Engineering Indicators (Indicators) report for and transmit it to the president and Congress every even-numbered year. The report is prepared by the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) within NSF under the guidance of the Board.
National assessments show a sharp decline in elementary and secondary student mathematics performance since the COVID-19 pandemic. From 2019 to 2022, average mathematics scores of fourth and eighth grade students dropped to levels last measured approximately 20 years ago.
Enrollment of international science and engineering (S&E) graduate students at U.S. institutions has rapidly increased from approximately 200,000 in 2020, a pandemic-era low point, to nearly 310,000 in 2022. International students on temporary visas accounted for about a third of S&E master’s and doctoral degree recipients at U.S. institutions in 2021.
The U.S. science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce comprised 36.8 million people in diverse occupations that require STEM knowledge and expertise in 2021, accounting for 24% of the total U.S. workforce. Just over half of STEM workers did not have bachelor’s degrees or higher. Foreign-born individuals made up 19% of all STEM workers and 43% of doctorate-level scientists and engineers.
