BLS reports this occupation as 97.1% women and 18.7% Hispanic across 644,000 workers. counted as STEM under the broadest definitions; among the lowest-paid credentialed work in the country.
This is one of the occupations doing the laundering
Preschool & kindergarten teachers are counted as STEM under broad definitions. At 18.2% Latina it is 15 times the software developer rate, and it pulls the headline figure up sharply. The work matters. Calling it the same thing as engineering does not.
How people get in
associate or bachelor's + state licensure.
Where it sits against the rest
| Occupation | Employed | % women | % Hispanic | Latina |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electrical & electronics engineers | 284,000 | 10.1% | 10.6% | 1.07% |
| Mechanical engineers | 419,000 | 11.2% | 10.9% | 1.22% |
| Software developers | 2,254,000 | 20.3% | 6.1% | 1.24% |
| Chemical engineers | 85,000 | 24.9% | 5.6% | 1.39% |
| Computer programmers | 381,000 | 18.5% | 9.2% | 1.70% |
| Database administrators & architects | 148,000 | 36.3% | 6.8% | 2.47% |
| Industrial engineers | 274,000 | 23.3% | 11.0% | 2.56% |
| Computer support specialists | 677,000 | 29.1% | 9.2% | 2.68% |
| Civil engineers | 525,000 | 21.8% | 12.5% | 2.73% |
| Network & systems administrators | 154,000 | 18.2% | 15.3% | 2.78% |
| Web developers | 66,000 | 36.8% | 11.4% | 4.20% |
| Computer systems analysts | 569,000 | 44.0% | 10.7% | 4.71% |
| Elementary & middle school teachers | 3,511,000 | 79.2% | 12.8% | 10.14% |
| Preschool & kindergarten teachers | 644,000 | 97.1% | 18.7% | 18.16% |
Highlighted rows are the teaching occupations that broad "STEM" definitions include.
What actually moves it
- WIOA-funded training — pays for the credential, ages 14 to 24 and adults: find your local office.
- Registered apprenticeship — a wage from day one instead of tuition: apprenticeship.gov.
- FAFSA — the gate to nearly all aid, free to file: studentaid.gov.
- Start at 14 — the youngest funded on-ramp we know of: work and paid training at 14.
En español
Hay aproximadamente 27,911 latinas trabajando como desarrolladoras de software en todo Estados Unidos — de 2,254,000 personas en esa ocupación. Las latinas son alrededor del 1.2% de esa profesión, mientras que los hispanos representan casi el 19% de la fuerza laboral del país.
Cuando una organización dice "latinas en STEM" e informa un número mucho más alto, generalmente está incluyendo maestras de preescolar y soporte técnico. Ese trabajo es real y está mal pagado — pero no es ingeniería de datos.
El dinero federal para entrenamiento ya existe: busque su oficina local.
Photographs on this campaign are licensed stock used as illustration — not portraits of people in the BLS counts. Full credits: CREDITS.md.