Washington (November 7, 2023)—From 2016 to 2020, thousands of scientists and technical experts left the federal workforce, many driven out by a hostile political climate. At the same time, escalating crises like climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic increased the demands on federal scientists like never before. A new report shows that, while agencies are coming back from those low points, there’s still a lot of work to do to build a federal science enterprise that reflects the country and can meet the challenges we face.
The report, “Strengthening and Diversifying the Federal STEM Workforce,” released today by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), finds that agencies are catching up to their pre-2017 staffing levels, but progress is inconsistent across agencies, and these agencies haven’t done enough to recruit and retain a diverse staff.
“The work of federal scientists affects all of us,” said Anita Desikan, senior analyst for the Center for Science and Democracy at UCS and lead author of the report. “Medical research, pollution monitoring, food safety inspection, and disaster response all rely on getting trustworthy, reliable scientific information. It really matters to have federal agencies fully staffed with scientists who are empowered to do their best work.”
While many federal agencies have gotten back to their pre-2017 staffing levels, the challenges we face have only grown since then along with the U.S. population. Recent federal legislation and long-overdue regulatory changes mean that agencies have new responsibilities. In addition, federal scientific agencies lag well behind the country in racial and ethnic diversity, with Black, Latino, and Indigenous people under-represented in these jobs, a real weakness for agencies charged with implementing environmental justice policies and tackling the issues facing communities of color.
“You can’t solve problems you don’t understand,” said Raechel McKinley, science policy manager for the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and a co-author of the report. “If federal agencies don’t seek out experts from historically excluded communities, they’re not going to be able to recognize and address the issues those communities face. Having a diverse federal workforce, at all levels, is going to mean more trusted and effective federal agencies.”
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are well ahead of the curve, the report shows. Using data from the federal Office of Personnel Management, analysts found that FDA and CDC have successfully increased their numbers of scientists and technical experts on staff, with strong representation of staff who identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color). On the other hand, diversity at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has barely budged over the past six years, and these agencies have only in 2022 gotten back to their 2017 staffing levels.
The report was written in collaboration with a unique roundtable of experts on the federal scientific work force, including multiple former federal scientists. The roundtable of experts came up with a range of suggestions for attracting and retaining a workforce that meets the moment. These recommendations include strong scientific integrity policies to protect scientists from political interference; better pay, mentoring, and workplace conditions to improve retention; and a broader recruitment effort including partnering with historically Black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions and tribal colleges and universities. In addition, agencies should hold themselves accountable by assessing their progress in attracting and retaining staff.
“It’s encouraging to see the federal government filling scientific positions, but it’s not enough to just restore the old status quo,” said Andrew Rosenberg, a former senior-level National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientist and a co-author of the report. “There are meaningful steps that federal agencies can take right now to build a federal workforce that is truly capable of addressing the growing challenges in front of us.”
For more information, see posts at the UCS blog from UCS president Johanna Chao Kreilick on the importance of a strong federal workforce and Anita Desikan on the need for broader recruitment strategies.