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Unemployment rate for scientists and engineers was only 2.5% in 2006

With the current economic downturn in the U.S., some working in the IT industry have found their jobs cut and outsourced to foreign countries. Some recent examples of big American companies eliminating jobs at home and abroad to help cut cost and grow profits are Dell and Motorola.

Dell closed its Austin, Texas PC manufacturing plant recently laying off 900 employees in the process. Before the Austin plant closure, Dell, closed a Canadian call center and laid off 900 employees. Motorola has also announced job cuts for another 2,600 employees.

Despite the downturn in IT sector jobs for some of the largest companies, there is still a very strong job market for scientists and engineers (S&E) according to new data from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The NSF collects information on scientists and engineers every two years and defines its target demographic as people with a bachelor’s degree or higher with science, engineering or related degrees and occupations.

The data is collected by the NSF in three different national surveys including a Survey of College Graduates, National Survey of Recent College Graduates and a Survey of Doctorate Recipients; all of which are collectively known as the Scientists and Engineers Statistical Data System of SESTAT.

Overall unemployment for S&E occupation in 2006 was only 2.5% while unemployment rated for the entire U.S. labor force was 4.7% in the same year. The surveys from the NSF also showed that in 2006 there were 1.9 million new science, engineering and health graduates with women making up over 50% of the new graduates.

Nimmi Kannankutty, the NSF program manager responsible for compiling the data says, “The NSF data tell one side of the story - the supply side, and do not reflect information about the future or current demand for scientists and engineers. On the supply side, we can say that the current S&E labor force is expanding, new graduates are coming out, and people are able to find employment, or are continuing their education."

Whether or not the job market continues to be as strong for science and engineering positions is unknown. The next round of surveys will be conducted in the fall of 2008.

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2006 vs. 2008 Relevance
By eilersr on 4/7/2008 11:48:57 AM , Rating: 5
While this is great information from the NSF that engineers and scientists tend to be in higher demand than the larger population, I question DT's linking of 2006 data to 2008 current events.

2007 was very much a boom year for semis and related high-tech industries. It's not surprising that hiring in 2006 leading up to a boom shows low unemployment, which the data reflects.

Since then, the US economy has gone into decline and we see more cases of layoffs and unemployment, which the NSF data cannot show.

While the report is good from an overall long-term perspective of displaying the high demand of educated tech workers, it should not be used to assuage any current event concerns about the US economy.




RE: 2006 vs. 2008 Relevance
By noxipoo on 4/7/2008 12:07:34 PM , Rating: 2
I agree, 2006 was good for IT as well, jobs were easy to find but not anymore.


RE: 2006 vs. 2008 Relevance
By Spuke on 4/7/2008 12:38:50 PM , Rating: 2
I see tons of jobs available here in CA and in Arizona as well in the IT field. Don't know where you guys are but the jobs are there. I wished I lived a little closer to some of those jobs though.


RE: 2006 vs. 2008 Relevance
By FITCamaro on 4/7/2008 12:54:45 PM , Rating: 5
Yes but a lot of people have no desire to live in California due to the insanely high cost of living there. Not to mention the emissions laws.

I will never live in California.


RE: 2006 vs. 2008 Relevance
By TomZ on 4/7/2008 1:42:32 PM , Rating: 4
Not to mention the rampant unchecked liberalism... :o)


RE: 2006 vs. 2008 Relevance
By FITCamaro on 4/7/2008 7:09:50 PM , Rating: 2
I didn't even want to get started on that.


RE: 2006 vs. 2008 Relevance
By winterspan on 4/8/2008 2:43:14 AM , Rating: 1
Yeah, I would much rather live in the Theocratic States of Jesus (also known as the southern United States) with their legions of backwoods, low-brow troglodytes.
Then again, I'm sure you would fit right in.


RE: 2006 vs. 2008 Relevance
By Ammohunt on 4/7/2008 4:10:06 PM , Rating: 2
I fell the same way about the east coast as well. Boggles my mind why anyone would purposfully live in a mega city.


RE: 2006 vs. 2008 Relevance
By kmmatney on 4/7/2008 9:29:50 PM , Rating: 2
I lived in CA for the first 25 years of my life, but have lived in Colorado for the last 12 years. I can afford to move back there if I wanted, but there are other things I'd like to spend money on, besides my house. The emission laws are OK, though. I expect Colorado will ahve the same emission laws soon.


RE: 2006 vs. 2008 Relevance
By fic2 on 4/7/2008 1:14:23 PM , Rating: 3
I know a lot of people that jumped out of the tech sector during the .com bust. So, I wonder how many tech workers there were in 2006 vs say 2000. Might also be a reason that the unemployment rate was low.


I would somewhat agree
By FITCamaro on 4/7/2008 12:13:02 PM , Rating: 2
I can tell you the company I work for has a couple dozen unfilled reqs for mechanical, electrical, and software engineers in the Baltimore area.

I do agree with others though that with the current slump, those who have lost their jobs recently might not be able to find replacements as easily. Especially not if they want to stay in the same area.




RE: I would somewhat agree
By eilersr on 4/7/2008 12:22:04 PM , Rating: 2
That's great news. You should consider yourself lucky :)
Many tech companies (mostly on the West coast) that I have contacts with are under hiring freezes.

On a slightly related note, I would like to point out that the NSF story admits that this only relates to 2006 college students/graduates and has little bearing of anything outside 2006 or experienced workers:

"The NSF data tell one side of the story - the supply side, and do not reflect information about the future or current demand for scientists and engineers," says Nimmi Kannankutty, NSF program manager responsible for compiling the data. "On the supply side, we can say that the current S&E labor force is expanding, new graduates are coming out, and people are able to find employment, or are continuing their education."

It's no surprise to me that students in 2006 were able to find jobs or continue their education. I was involved with hiring students for my company in 2006 and it was definitely a boom year. Go to a career fair or similar venue this year and it's a very different story.


RE: I would somewhat agree
By cocoviper on 4/7/2008 12:22:51 PM , Rating: 2
Agreed. I'm an electrical engineer graduating in about a month and I've turned down multiple offers.

Plain and simple, if you're an engineer coming from an acredited school with even half decent grades who works just a little to find a job, you will have multiple offers.

I can't speak for non entry level however.


RE: I would somewhat agree
By phattyboombatty on 4/7/2008 12:56:00 PM , Rating: 2
What's the going rate for an entry-level electrical engineer salary these days?


RE: I would somewhat agree
By eilersr on 4/7/2008 1:18:23 PM , Rating: 2
There's a lot of different sources and variables for this, but this is usually the most widely cited:

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm#earnings

About $55-56K, with adjustments based on region and sub-discipline.


RE: I would somewhat agree
By Noya on 4/7/2008 4:07:03 PM , Rating: 2
Government statistics, we know how reliable those are.


RE: I would somewhat agree
By VashHT on 4/7/2008 6:18:12 PM , Rating: 2
I can say from personal experience those numbers for EE's are pretty much spot on unless its dropped a ton in a year (I graduated last year).


RE: I would somewhat agree
By FITCamaro on 4/7/2008 7:13:12 PM , Rating: 2
That's about the going rate speaking for my friends. If you've got really good grades and some experience low to mid 60s aren't out of the question. Especially if you're a contractor. I was making $32/hour (about $66,000/yr in reality) as a contractor.


RE: I would somewhat agree
By emboss on 4/7/2008 5:22:49 PM , Rating: 2
"Traditional" engineering fields - civil, mechanical, industrial, etc have always been pretty safe bets as far as employment goes. Electrical as well, in the "traditional" sense of substations and process control. Unless there's a significant recession going on, bridges still need to be built and designs need to be signed off.

The fields that have got hit hard recently are software and electrical in the electronic design sense.

Similarly on the science side (though of course it's always been harder to get work in science than engineering) - biology, physics, chemistry are all doing as well as they have done, but employability of compsci grads has tanked.


RE: I would somewhat agree
By SectionEight on 4/7/2008 8:12:03 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Similarly on the science side...biology, physics, chemistry are all doing as well as they have done,


Come on, where's the love for Geology? Everyone forgets that's a science too. Thanks to the high commodities prices, jobs are plentiful. Due to the cheap oil prices of the 80s-90s, an entire generation of geologists are missing in the oil industry and now the boomers are retiring in massive numbers. Fellow MS students at my university and others are being picked up for $70-100k/yr. Hell, the monthly pay for my internship would equate to the low end of that.

I'm fully aware oil and mineral exploration is a cyclic business, but at least my work can't be offshored (hard to move the land under the Gulf of Mexico to India).


RE: I would somewhat agree
By djc208 on 4/8/2008 10:14:01 AM , Rating: 2
I think this is where a lot of these jobs are coming from too. I know a lot of Government engineering positions floating around and my place of business in particular is having trouble getting enough new engineers. It's only going to get worse a