U.S. Engineering Unemployment Reaches 7 Percent Library: BIZ Keywords: ENGINEERING WORKFORCE ENGINEERING LABOR JOB MARKET JOBLESS OUTSOURCING H-1B VISA L-1 VISA BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS Description: As U.S. electrical engineers face record-high unemployment, questions arise over outsourcing and immigration policies. (IEEE Spectrum, Jul-2003)
Any career counselor would tell Candy Robinson she's done everything right. A software engineer with 23 years' experience, she holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, a master's in computer science, and an MBA. After each of her four children was born, she returned promptly to work. She networks constantly. Throughout her career, she chose projects and positions that seemed the most promising and the most stable.
Until a few years ago, Robinson's strategy seemed to be paying off: she was happily employed and had moved into an $89,000-a-year management job. Then, in January 2001, her company merged with Citigroup, she was laid off, and she's been out of work ever since. "You figure the more experience, the more education you have, the better. You stay on top of your field, you do all the right things," Robinson says. "I never in a zillion years would have seen myself in this position."
Robinson is far from alone. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 7 percent of U.S. electrical engineers were out of work in the first quarter of this year, surpassing the nation's average of 6 percent. The situation was not much better in fields closely related to electrical and electronics engineering. In past downturns, EE jobless rates typically hovered a percentage point or two below the national average. Overall, total employment has dropped more in the current downturn than in any other since the Great Depression. Although some signs now point to a mild recovery--industrial production, for example, has picked up since the fall--employers continue to shed jobs.
Many engineers, like Robinson, have been out of work for well over a year. After exhausting their unemployment benefits, many have taken lower-paying work in other fields, or are struggling as consultants or part-timers. And the longer they remain outside the field, the harder it seems to get back in.
The tech industry is among the hardest hit. Despite pockets of growth, major sectors like telecommunications and computers still languish. While many had hoped increased spending on the military and national security would help absorb the unemployed, so far that hasn't happened.
The dire situation is spurring normally apolitical engineers to take action. Much of their attention has focused on the effects of guest-worker visas and outsourcing overseas. In both cases, they claim that companies are replacing U.S. workers with less expensive foreign workers.
Contacts: Jean Kumagai, 212 419 7551, j.kumagai at ieee.org, or William Sweet, 212 419 7559, w.sweet at ieee.org. For a faxed copy of the complete article ("It's Cold Out There" by Jean Kumagai, Senior Associate Editor, IEEE Spectrum, July 2003, pp. 13-15) or to arrange an interview, contact: Nancy T. Hantman, 212 419 7561, n.hantman at ieee.org. --- Sent from UnionMail Service [http://mail.union.org.za]