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<p>“STEM” is not uniform with respect to job prospects, at the PhD level or otherwise. A new PhD in computer science might not have too much trouble finding a job, if s/he is open to industry jobs as well as academic ones. A new PhD in a field with a weak non-academic job market may have a much tougher time. See <a href=“Education: The PhD factory | Nature”>Latest science news, discoveries and analysis; .</p>
<p>Remember that even for academic jobs, the numbers indicate that competition is fierce for tenure track positions at PhD-granting research universities. Each faculty member at a PhD-granting research universities will mentor far more PhD students to PhD completion than needed to replace him/her when s/he retires, so most of those who do go into academic jobs will end up at other schools (undergraduate or master’s universities, LACs, community colleges, adjuncting, etc.).</p>