Projections show shift toward STEM careers regionally, nationally
America’s workforce appears to be in a transitional state as technological advancements and demographic shifts contribute to rapidly changing economic conditions.
According to a January 2025 article from Harvard Business Review, "executives today face a volatile business environment, including sustained talent shortages, rapid technological advancements, and intense change fatigue in the workforce. This is all happening while stakeholders push leaders to cut expenditures while pursuing faster growth."
As larger portions of the workforce are reaching retirement age compared to previous years, those entering the job field are finding a lack of guidance from industry experts. A May 2024 survey conducted by Gartner found that 6 in 10 employees say they aren’t receiving ‘on the job’ coaching necessary to support core job skills.
This issue is compounded by the rise of artificial intelligence, which is increasingly being used to complete tasks that were formerly delegated to interns or junior employees.
“Organizational leaders are beginning to wonder how they will develop future experts when the tasks used to develop novice employees are now being performed by AI,” the HBR article said.
However, technological advances are also creating new career opportunities in some fields. The semiconductor industry, for example, has seen rapid growth since the CHIPS and Science Act was signed into law by the Biden Administration in 2022.
The act “authorizes roughly $280 billion in new funding to boost domestic research and manufacturing of semiconductors in the United States, for which it appropriates $52.7 billion,” according to a Wikipedia article titled ‘CHIPS and Science Act.’
“It also invests $174 billion in the overall ecosystem of public sector research in science and technology,” the article said.
The national trend towards science and technology jobs is reflected regionally in Kootenai County.
Projections from the Idaho Department of Labor predict a 47.6% increase in STEM-related jobs in Kootenai County by 2032. As of 2022, 8,389 people were employed in STEM-related fields in Kootenai County, with that number expected to rise to over 12,000 by 2032.
Currently, Kootenai Medical Center is the top employer in Kootenai County, employing between 2,500 to 4,999 people in 2023.
The projected growth of Kootenai County’s workforce is due in part to the region’s rapid population growth overall.
“The increasingly diverse economic base and lifestyle of the northern Idaho region have attracted thousands of residents in recent years, making it Idaho’s second most populous region,” according to IDL.
As Kootenai County’s workforce continues to shift towards more highly technical, specialized jobs, regional higher education offerings will be a “key component” to fostering a highly skilled and trained workforce, IDL also said. This includes North Idaho College as well as University of Idaho, Lewis-Clark State College, and Boise State University satellite campuses located in Coeur d’Alene.
