We investigate the relationships between college majors, career choices, and earnings disparities among college graduates with STEM degrees across sex and racial/ethnic groups. Utilizing data from the American Community Survey (ACS) and Occupational Information Network (O*NET), we find that college majors and career choices are loosely aligned, with a large proportion of STEM graduates working in non-STEM occupations. In particular, females and racial/ethnic minorities are more likely to choose basic-skill and high-skill non-STEM occupations than their male and Asian/white counterparts. Furthermore, our findings reveal significant variations in earnings premiums among STEM majors, contingent on their career choices. High-skill STEM occupations offer the largest earnings premiums, followed by high-skill non-STEM occupations. Remarkably, there is no earnings premium associated with a STEM degree among college graduates who work in basic-skill occupations. These results underscore the crucial role of career choices in shaping the development of the STEM workforce and highlight their influence on earnings disparities associated with sex and race/ethnicity.
