The Congressional Research Service says it outright: "Most experts agree that there is no authoritative definition," and estimates of this workforce have "ranged from approximately 6 million to more than 21 million depending on the definition used." NSF NCSES counts 35.9 million. BLS Employment Projections counts 10.9 million. Same economy, same year.
The gap is composition, not noise. Of BLS's broad 20.7 million figure, the health subdomain alone is 10,097,370 — 48.8%. Registered nurses are 3,379,720 people and about 9% of NSF's entire STEM workforce; software developers are 5%. NSF counts K-12 science teachers as "S&E precollege teachers"; BLS counts only postsecondary STEM teaching. And computer user support — the help desk — is 750,600 people at a median of $61,860, which is 43% below the median of the very occupation group it is counted inside.
None of that says nurses, teachers or support technicians do not matter. This organisation runs campaigns about all three. It says a figure that swings by thirty million cannot tell a sixteen-year-old where to aim. So this campaign stops arguing about the total and builds the ladder onto it.
The five findings
Zero to Network
Network support: $76,220 median, and BLS assigns an associate degree rather than a bachelor's. The most walkable ladder in technical work.
Zero to Support
The help desk is rung three of eight. 750,600 people at $61,860. Take it, and do not stay on it.
Zero to Security
$129,180 median and 21% growth — and BLS says the typical route is a bachelor's. The honest path, not the advertised one.
Zero to Technician
Engineering technician work at $78,190 with an associate degree, and it exists where the infrastructure is rather than where the cities are.
Zero to Developer
1,687,890 people write software for a living. The route from zero, and the honest odds.
Each of the five is a full package: the finding, eight routes, all 51 states, and every one of the 3,152 counties in the United States. A search from anywhere in the country has an answer written for that place.
The eight rungs, in order
| Route | Who is obliged |
|---|---|
| Rung zero | No permission required, and the money for the first step already exists |
| The first credential | Weeks to months, a few hundred dollars, frequently paid for |
| The first technical job | The hardest rung — the only one where a stranger takes a risk |
| The branch point | 12 to 24 months in, and defaulting is itself a choice |
| The senior rung | Median $109,280 across computing, $99,520 across engineering |
| Who pays, at every rung | WIOA, apprenticeship, Pell, employer benefit, VA |
| How long it actually takes | 5 to 8 years from zero. Longer than the advertisement, shorter than you think |
| If you stall | Two predictable places, and both have answers that are not "try harder" |
A pipeline is not a county-sized thing. The employer, the community college, the training provider and the workforce board are almost never all inside one county line — so every track in this campaign has a page for each of the 3,152 counties and one for every labour market in the United States.
Every campaign
Amigos en Acción runs eight. Each takes one group and one barrier; the last one is the sum of them.
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