One ongoing concern for government ministers and industry leaders alike has been the lack of girls taking STEM GCSEs and the shortage of those going onto A Level and university courses as well.
To counter the problem, recent research highlighted the benefits of science, technology, engineering and maths qualifications to girls’ future earnings. The analysis, led by consultancy firm London Economics, showed that studying science or maths at A level sends girls’ earnings soaring by a third. The research shows that achieving two or more A levels in science, technology, engineering or maths subjects adds 7.8% to a man’s earnings, when compared to just gaining GCSE-level qualifications, but the returns for women are much higher, with earnings being boosted by 33.1%.
Since 2010 the government’s plan for education has included a focus on encouraging more young people, especially girls, to study STEM subjects. This has resulted in 10,000 more STEM A level entries for girls, with chemistry seeing a 19% rise. Using data tracking more than 13,000 people since 1970, researchers analysed the earnings associated with different levels of qualifications by the time these people reached the middle of their careers. The analysis also showed that performance in maths tests at primary school is a significant indicator of future earnings. It shows that girls who perform in the top 25% of maths tests at age ten earn almost a quarter more than those scoring in the bottom 25% by the time they reached the middle of their careers. Education Secretary Nicky Morgan said: “More girls are studying maths and sciences than ever before and the report shows that this can benefit their earnings by as much as a third.
“STEM A level entries are up by as much as a fifth since 2010 – but we won’t stop here. We are investing millions to get more children studying these subjects by training an additional 17,500 teachers over the next 5 years and setting up expert maths hubs to replicate the success of top-performing Asian countries.”
“Encouraging more young people – especially girls – to study STEM subjects is a vital part of our plan for education and it has been vindicated by this in-depth research.”
Nicky Morgan
Education Secretary
