Staying Competitive

American students are falling behind in the essential subjects of math and science, putting our position in the global economy at serious risk. NMSI's Competitiveness Brochure discusses our nation's declining competitiveness in a global marketplace and details immediate action items to address this growing crisis.

Download the NMSI CompetitiveBrochure (PDF)

Here are just a few examples of this crisis:

• U.S. students recently finished 25th in math and 17th in science in the ranking of 31 countries by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
• Women currently constitute 48 percent of the U.S. workforce but hold just 24 percent of the U.S. jobs in STEM.
• Fewer than 15 percent of American engineers are women.
• Sixty percent of the new jobs that will open in the 21st century will require skills possessed by only 20 percent of the current workforce.5 The U.S. may be short as many as three million high-skills workers by 2018. Two-thirds of those jobs will require at least some post-secondary education. American universities, however, only award about a third of the bachelor’s degrees in science and engineering as Asian universities. Worldwide, the United States ranks 17th in the number of science degrees it awards.
• The competitive edge of the US economy has eroded sharply over the last decade, according to a new study by a non-partisan research group. The report found that the U.S. ranked sixth among 40 countries and regions, based on 16 indicators of innovation and competitiveness. They included venture capital investment, scientific research, spending on research, and educational achievement.7 The prestigious World Economic Forum ranks the U.S. as No. 48 in quality of math and science education.
• 25 years ago, the U.S. led the world in high school and college graduation rates. Today, the U.S. has dropped to 20th and 16th. We can do better. The good news is that APTIP schools already are.