2007 Engineering Outlook
What does the future hold for engineers in the United States? As we look into our crystal ball, we see an overall growth trend in most engineering disciplines that bodes well for both job growth and earnings growth for current engineers and for engineering students. There are many factors that come into play when evaluating the growth and stability of any specific profession including education trends, job growth predictions, external influences on the market, and historical performance. As we look at these indicators and others, we see the potential for increased wages tied to an average increased demand for engineers and a steady decline in the total number of experience professionals available for employment.
Education Trends
After a downturn in the number of engineering degrees awarded in the late 1990's, Colleges and Universities across the country are increasing the number of engineering graduates at a substantial pace with some major universities producing more engineering graduates in the last 3 years than any other time since the post WWII era. According to researchers Gary Gereffi and Vivek Wadhwa of Duke University, United States Universities produce 222,335 engineers each year with 137,437 of those having four year degrees. Even this increased pace is not keeping up with the demand for engineers which bodes well for engineering salaries in the next several years.
Job Growth Projections
The latest results published by the U.S Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that job growth across the engineering disciplines will proceed "as fast as the average," or 9% to 17%. It is important to note that job growth will be very dependent on education level and the specific engineering discipline. For example, Biomedical and Environmental Engineering are projected to grow "much faster than average," at a rate of 27% + each year. Overall, there are about 1.4 million engineers employed in the United States at any given time. Applying the average projected growth rate of 10%, the discipline as a whole should add approximately 140,000 jobs each year.
The distribution of engineers by major discipline is:
| Total, all engineers |
1,449,000 |
100% |
| Civil |
237,000 |
16.4% |
| Mechanical |
226,000 |
15.6% |
| Industrial |
177,000 |
12.2% |
| Electrical |
156,000 |
10.8% |
| Electronics |
143,000 |
9.9% |
| Computer hardware |
77,000 |
5.3% |
| Aerospace |
76,000 |
5.2% |
| Environmental |
49,000 |
3.4% |
| Chemical |
31,000 |
2.1% |
| Health and safety, except mining safety |
27,000 |
1.8% |
| Materials |
21,000 |
1.5% |
| Nuclear |
17,000 |
1.2% |
| Petroleum |
16,000 |
1.1% |
| Biomedical |
9,700 |
0.7% |
| Marine engineers and naval architects |
6,800 |
0.5% |
| Mining and geological, including mining safety |
5,200 |
0.4% |
| Agricultural |
3,400 |
0.2% |
| All other engineers |
172,000 |
11.8% |
| Source: U.S. Department of Labor - Bureau of Labor Statistics |
|
|
Demographic Shift
In the next 10 to 15 years an estimated 77 million baby boomers will retire. "By 2010, more than half of all workers in the United States will be over 40. As of 2005, the baby boomers (the generation born after World War II) range in age from 41 to 59, and their numbers almost double the Generation X that follows them." (CIO Magazine - Knowledge Management (KM) - How to Beat the Baby Boomer Retirement Blues by: Susannah Patton) This dramatic shift in employee demographics will put a great deal of pressure on employers to maintain the knowledge and experience within their engineering departments and even bigger pressures on HR departments to find and attract qualified engineers. As this demographic shift occurs, there will undoubtedly be an increased upward pressure on engineering wages.
Retiree Re-staffing
The need for employers to maintain knowledge and experience within their engineering departments will lead to a large number of retiring engineers re-entering the workforce as independent contractors and consultants. More than 60 percent of U.S. companies are currently bringing back retirees as contractors or consultants, according to a study by AARP. These consultants will have the opportunity to work more flexible schedules and continue to earn wages at the top end of the engineering pay scale. This trend could stem the tide of increasing demand for a short period of time, but the long-term picture includes shortages of qualified engineers.
Varying Skill Sets in Demand
The traditional skills of an engineer (math & science) are still paramount to a successful career in engineering, but a shift towards stronger "soft skills" is a notable trend. Employers are seeking employees with strong communication skills, leadership qualities, creativity, and the ability to function within a team. Employees with these softer skills are seeing their careers advance at a faster rate, in many cases even faster than co-workers with more experience or advanced degrees.
Experience in Demand
Similarly, there is no substitute for experience. As a general rule, engineering employers are now seeking candidates who have a broad knowledge base and have worked on several different projects of varying sizes. The employees who have taken clear control of their careers and have a more diverse background seem to have the advantage in the current employment market.
Out Sourcing and Off Shoring Impacts
Global competition for engineering assignments will continue to increase over the next few years. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, "There are many well-trained, often English-speaking engineers available around the world willing to work at much lower salaries than are U.S. engineers. The rise of the Internet has made it relatively easy for much of the engineering work previously done by engineers in this country to be done by engineers in other countries, a factor that will tend to hold down employment growth. Even so, the need for onsite engineers to interact with other employees and with clients will remain." In addition, the current trend in off-shoring is to move repetitive engineering process to less expensive sources so that core engineering and new product development can be focused on by the engineers on site.
Job Satisfaction
Engineers have traditionally tended to change jobs less frequently than the average American employee. This is due to several factors, the most important being that engineers have traditionally been assigned to longer term projects. Further, job satisfaction within the engineering disciplines has been above average with many engineers citing their ability to contribute to the success of a project, the ability to solve problems, and recognition for their contributions by their employers; as the major reasons why they stay. A more recent trend in engineering job satisfaction is the need to reach a better work-life balance which may lead to some engineers accepting slightly lower wages in exchange for more freedom to spend time with their families.
Salary Trends
All of the different trends outlined above contribute to an overall upswing in salary growth within the engineering disciplines. Again, that salary growth is directly tied to the specific engineering discipline. Petroleum and Mining Engineering salaries are likely to remain flat or see a slight increase over the coming years, in contrast with Biomedical or Environmental engineering which is in high demand and likely to see more rapid salary growth. Disciplines like Aerospace engineering will continue to suffer from the cyclical nature of the business over the long-term, but in the shorter term, defense business will continue to contribute to slightly above average salary growth.. The traditional Mechanical, Chemical, and Electrical engineering salaries are likely to continue increasing at an average pace.
It is widely noted that engineering graduates have higher starting salaries than other disciplines. Further, in the engineering disciplines, education plays a more important role in salary advancement than in other disciplines. This is best illustrated by the results of a 2005 survey taken by the National Association of Colleges and Employers.
| Curriculum |
Bachelor's |
Master's |
Ph.D. |
| Aerospace/aeronautical/astronautical |
$50,993 |
$62,930 |
$72,529 |
| Agricultural |
$46,172 |
$53,022 |
--- |
| Bioengineering and biomedical |
$48,503 |
$59,667 |
--- |
| Chemical |
$53,813 |
$57,260 |
$79,591 |
| Civil |
$43,679 |
$48,050 |
$59,625 |
| Computer |
$52,464 |
$60,354 |
$69,625 |
| Electrical/electronics and communications |
$51,888 |
$64,416 |
$80,206 |
| Environmental/environmental health |
$47,384 |
--- |
--- |
| Industrial/manufacturing |
$49,567 |
$56,561 |
$85,000 |
| Materials |
$50,982 |
--- |
--- |
| Mechanical |
$50,236 |
$59,880 |
$68,299 |
| Mining & mineral |
$48,643 |
--- |
--- |
| Nuclear |
$51,182 |
$58,814 |
--- |
| Petroleum |
$58,000 |
$61,516 |
--- |
There are many factors coming to bear on the current and future engineering employment and salary outlook. Most currently indicate a fairly strong future for engineers in terms of job stability, job growth, and earnings growth. Only time will tell exactly what the future holds for engineers, but all indications illustrate a continued growth for the discipline.
2002-2010 © CareerMarketplace, Inc. www.EnvironmentalEngineer.com is a trademark of CareerMarketplace, Inc. |
