It's not that there is a limited number of people capable of doing work in STEM, it's that the economy doesn't offer enough jobs in STEM. There have been layoffs after layoffs in chemistry, pharmacology and biotech, math isn't the dream ticket to Wall Street any longer - in fact the only areas with job openings are computer science and petroleum engineering. Computer science is growing because investment there increases workers' productivity, and the jobs in petroleum are there because of domestic gas production. As soon as tech yields no more increases and as soon as the gas bubble pops the party will be over there, too. Eric Schmidt predicts public unrest and wants to get out of the way. A worrying thought.