Report: Philadelphia Has The 5th Most Diverse STEM Workforce In The Country
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Looking for a job in STEM -- or science, math, engineering and tech?
Philadelphia is a good place to be.
That's according to a new report conducted by finance website smartasset, which ranks Philly fifth on its list of U.S. cities with the most diverse STEM workforces.
To calculate the rankings, smartasset says it looked at U.S. Census data on the demographics of STEM employment in 210 U.S. cities with the largest STEM workforces. That includes the racial and ethnic makeup of a city's workforce.
Each city then received an index score based on the distribution of the workforce among the eight primary racial and ethnic groups tracked by the U.S. Census Bureau. The more evenly spread between those groups a city's workforce was, the better the score it received.
A similar score was also determined for each city's gender diversity, and then the two scores were averaged.
Memphis, TN was the city with the most diverse STEM workforce, and Stockton, CA came in second. But the City of Brotherly Love didn't fare too badly, ranking among the best cities for women in tech and doing well for racial diversity, too.
"For example, while Black Americans make up just 6% of the national STEM workforce, in Philadelphia they hold 18% of STEM jobs," smartasset writes.
Smartasset notes that diversity in STEM fields is a nationwide problem, but one that isn't as extreme in certain areas of the U.S.
