Chapter Three: Statistical Profile of the Engineering Profession

Chapter three is all about statistics in the field. From students, to jobs, to pay, to engineers by field. Since there is not much to cover, here we will simply list off statistics by section.

3.2: College Enrollment Trends of Engineering Students

Section 3.2 shows statistics on the fluctuations in enrollment in engineering programs. After giving statistics on the lows and highs of enrollment in engineering programs, it then correlates those figures to births and other such statistics. Early on they prove the point that statistics can have something hiding behind them.

3.3 College Majors of Recent Engineering Students

Over 511,000 students were majoring in an undergraduate engineering discipline in 2011, and 168,000 were pursuing a graduate engineering degree. The largest field of study across both parts of the student populous was electrical and computer engineering, followed by mechanical and aerospace engineering. An interesting note, according to the author, is that 102,000 students are in specialized disciplines.

3.4 Degrees in Engineering

In this section, the author shows the amount of graduates produced relative to the amount of students enrolled, and then shows the years that graduates were decreasing proportionately and increasing proportionately. I would give a summary if I could word it in a way that was not plagiarism.

3.5 Job Placement Trends

From 1994 to 2001, placement job placement of graduates was excellent, but then dropped sharply between 2002 and 2003, most likely due to 9/11. Thankfully, a shift emerged, and employers and now more willing to hire graduates. Current unemployment rate for engineers is, and has been since 2010, 6%, but trends show it on the fall.

3.6 Salaries of Engineers

Engineering fields aren't equal when it comes to pay. The following is a list of engineering professions, and their median pay in 2013, in descending order:

Petroleum ($93,500), Computer Science Master's ($74,200), Computer Engineering ($71,700), Mechanical Master's ($67,900), Chemical ($67,600), Electrical Master's ($67,200), Electrical ($64,800), Aerospace ($64,400), Mechanical ($64,000), Electrical ($63,400), Civil ($57,300), Manufacturing ($56,300), Biomedical (47,300).

Median salary for engineering graduates across all levels of mastery was around $60,000, the 81st income percentile in America. The high earnings and wide placement opportunities makes engineering a lucrative field to get into.

3.7 Diversity in the Profession

About two-thirds of the engineering population is white males. Sorry if you were looking to get a girlfriend through your job.

3.8 Distribution of Engineers by Field of Study

Electrical contains the most workers, at 290,560. That's more workers than Computer, Environmental, Aerospace, Chemical, Materials, and Nuclear engineering combined, which only total to about 280,000. The next two workforce behemoths are Civil engineering and Mechanical engineering, at 254 thousand workers and 238 thousand workers, respectively.

3.9 Engineering Employment by Type of Employer

Manufacturing industries have almost always made up a large percent of the engineering workforce, as its the main target for many of the problems engineers solve. Next to that is maintinence engineering, followed by mnay smaller segments.

3.11 A Word from Employers

Employers, as they say in this section, want the complete package when it come to hiring an engineer. They don't want someone fresh out of college with no idea how to work in a team, even if they do have a degree. Employers are looking for the following things in an applicant: Teamwork experience, internship experience, high grades within earning your degree, technical proficiency, a willingness to learn, critical thinking skills, and (most importantly) common sense. Simply earning a degree is not enough in this fast paced economy, you have to make your unique skills stand out and bring something to the table.