Engineering Inc. - November/December 2007 - 26

lot of kids who have an interest in engineering… are going into the industry to do gaming, software engineering or electrical engineering. Laurie Dreyer-HaDLey PsoMas a nearly sufficient to support the demand, and that has driven costs way up,” explains John Cook, director of human resources at Lochner, which employs about 430 engineers in 26 offices. With salaries on the rise, industrywatchers say it’s only a matter of time before more students consider careers in engineering, but even a slight surge in interest brought on by higher pay is unlikely to stem the shortage. The exact cause of the shortage still is open for debate, but across the board, engineering executives agree higher salaries in other engineering disciplines as well as competing professions is at least partly to blame. Another factor, and perhaps a bigger reason, is a lack of knowledge and interest in the field, which some engineers are trying to change by exposing children to the profession earlier in the course of their educations. “A lot of kids who have an interest in engineering and grew up on Game Boys are going into the industry to do gaming, software engineering or electrical engineering,” says Laurie Dreyer-Hadley, director of recruiting and staff development at Psomas, a Los Angeles-based engineering firm with 850 employees. In fact, while the number of college graduates with bachelor’s degrees in engineering has increased 17 percent over the past decade, from about 65,000 grads in 1997 to about 76,000 in 2006, the number of civil engineering graduates has 26 eNGINeerING INc. November / December 2007 declined during that same period, according to a study by the American Association of Engineering Societies’ (AAES) Engineering Workforce Commission in Washington, D.C. The number of civil engineering graduates decreased from 11,119 in 1997 to about 8,200 students in 2001 and 2002. Since then, the number of graduates has slowly crept back up with 9,432 graduates in 2006. But it’s still 15 percent below the levels of 10 years ago. The number of industrial engineering graduates has remained static at about 3,000 a year, while the mechanical engineering field is faring better. In 1997, about 14,100 students graduated with mechanical engineering degrees. That number slipped to about 13,000 between 1998 through 2002, but the number of graduates has risen the past few years, reaching nearly 15,700 graduates in 2006. The bulk of the increase in engineering graduates during the past 10 years, however, is in higher-paying engineering disciplines, such as computer, electrical, biomedical and aeronautical engineering. The number of computer engineering grads, for example, has more than doubled from about 6,200 in 1997 to 14,300 in 2006, according to the AAES report. To reverse the tide, engineering firms and industry organizations are ratcheting up outreach efforts, even going as far as visiting grade schools to explain why engineering, and particularly civil engineering, is a strong, exciting field, DreyerHadley says. To students, the thought of entering engineering might appear less “sexy or glamorous” than other professions, admits Jill Heath, president of Mulkey Engineers & Consultants, in Raleigh, N.C. “That’s why we need to go out to the middle schools and explain to students the importance of math and science, and that we’re getting competitive with salaries.” Show Me the Green salaries among engineering fields, they come in well below other industry fields such as computer, electrical and chemical engineering, according to a survey of 2006 graduates by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. According to the Economic Research Institute (ERI), the Redmond, Wash.– based nonprofit that tracks salary trends across industries, first-year civil engineers average $47,663 a year in base salary, while first-year mechanical engineers make $53,751. In contrast, software engineers boast an average starting salary of $54,883, while electrical engineers begin at $55,980. The salary gap widens with experience. For example, civil engineers with 20 years’ experience make an average $77,256 salary, while mechanical engineers with 18 years’ experience average $88,237, according to ERI. That compares to experienced software engineers, who average $93,566 a year, and electrical engineers, who rake in an average of $95,269 a year. But competition from within the industry is only part of the problem. When students obtain engineering degrees, experts say, there’s no guarantee they will stay in hat’s why we need to go out…and explain to students the importance of math and science, and that we’re getting competitive with salaries. JiLL HeatH MuLkey engineers & ConsuLtants T Although two built-environment professions—civil and mechanical engineering—crack the top 10 in highest starting

Engineering Inc. - November/December 2007

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