Dear person reading this on either their WiFi-connected laptop or smart phone after having been directed here likely either by Facebook or Twitter: tech, alongside science, math, and engineering, is one of the fastest growing industries in the world right now.
Sadly, Miami is doing a horrible job or attracting those type of jobs to our area. Put it this way: if places like Houston, Austin, and San Francisco are running on OS X Yosemite, Miami is still running on Windows ME.
Wallethub recently decided to rank the top 100 metro areas from best to worst for STEM professionals (i.e. people working in science, tech, engineering, or math), and the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area came in dead last.
Why is that so worrisome? Because STEM careers are expected to grow at a rate of 1.7 times faster between 2008 and 2018 than non-STEM fields. Meanwhile, those STEM jobs have an average salary of $79,640 a year, something that would look very good in Miami, where the middle class seems to be disappearing.
So why is Miami the worst? Well, here are the nine factors Wallethub took into account and where Miami landed on the list.
- Percentage of All Workers Currently in STEM Fields: Miami can in 78th out of 100
- Stem Employment Growth: 56th
- The STEM High School Index (quality and amount of high schools specializing in STEM fields according to US News and World Report): 39th (This is our highest ranking, so congrats teenagers and their teachers! Though, good luck actually finding jobs to use those STEM skills in here in Miami.)
- Annual Median Wage for STEM Workers (Adjusted for Cost of Living): 82nd
- Annual Median Wage Growth for STEM Workers: 41st
- Housing Affordability for STEM Professionals: 96th (Yes, Miami's housing market is so out-of-whack that its even a drain on well-paid, upper-middle class professionals and our ability to attract them.)
- Job Openings per Capita for STEM Graduates: 94th (Not that we have many existing jobs to offer them.)
- Unemployment Rate for People with a Bachelor's Degree or Higher: 94th
- Projected Number of STEM Jobs Needed in 2018: 79th
Though Miami didn't come in dead last for any single factor, when all of them were averaged together, Miami was 100th.
The best place for STEM jobs in the U.S.: Houston, followed Austin. Yes, Florida is well behind even Texas when it comes to the technological future.
In fact, the STEM problem seems to affect all of Florida. Tampa was the highest ranking Florida metro on the list, and it only came in at 60.
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