Experts both inside and outside of government have voiced fears that the federal workforce for carrying out scientific, technical, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) activities is aging and may soon face a dwindling labor pool. The authors assess the condition of this workforce, focusing on three main areas: trends in the U.S. STEM workforce overall that might affect the federal STEM workforce, workforce-shaping activities in the federal STEM workforce, and legislative and programmatic mechanisms for influencing that workforce.
