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Survey Shows
Industry Is Stabilizing
by Judy Bokorney, Contributing Editor
Some electronic professionals say the electronics industry is bouncing back.
Does your own experience confirm this?
After surviving the dot-com
bust, massive layoffs, and
jobs going overseas, the electronics industry finally is showing some signs of
stabilizing. Job security still remains an uncertainty but this may be a
reflection of a new work environment, one that can never guarantee employment
security like in decades past. A total of 718 EE-Evaluation Engineering readers
took part in the 2005 Salary Survey, and a few offered their opinions on the
cautiously promising results.
This year’s salary survey questioned readers about pay raises, job security and
satisfaction, job function, education, staff increases and reductions, overtime
work, new job searches, and even if a respondent would recommend engineering as
a career to the next generation. However, the most important finding of the
survey is that median salary increased in contrast to three previous years of
either decreased or stagnant results.
According to the 2005 survey, median salary rose 2.7% to $75,000 this year
compared to last year’s total of $73,000. Yet optimism must remain guarded as
median salary also was $75,000 in both 2002 and 2003 after banner years in 2000
and 2001 where income increased by 8.3% and 4.6%, respectively.
“The electronics industry is making a comeback, and it is due to consumer
demand. This is evident in the buying power of the consumer and the items being
purchased,” said Gary Daniel a design and development engineer for SEI Group, an
architectural and engineering firm in Huntsville, AL, with a client base of the
military and Corp of Engineers.
“I think the electronics industry still is a major part of the solution to
increasing business profits,” said John Bond, who is in charge of production
boards and software development and maintenance for Ai-Logix located in
Somerset, NJ. “The United States still has the best engineers and electronics
business managers, and they seem to be working together to correctly identify
and fulfill the needs of their customers. This success, in good circumstances,
will translate to increasing salaries,” he said.
Jon Wegener, a component engineer for the Department of Energy at Sandia
National Laboratories in Albuquerque, NM, also believes the electronics industry
is bouncing back. “The electronics suppliers I do business with are getting
busier, and they are hiring additional staff,” he said. “Some of my colleagues
in other electronics companies also talk about the increased business. The
current outlook at the national laboratories also appears very good.”
Job Security Still a Concern
Job security, however, still is tentative among EE readers who responded to the
survey. A total of 61% indicated they do not feel more secure in their job this
year than last year. Most survey takers, said that, overall, they feel secure in
their present job (52%) with 34% feeling very secure and 14% not secure.
“For me, job security is more important than salary,” Mr. Wegener said. “I think
executive managers need to be held to the same standards of performance as their
staff. The staff is told to work smarter and efficiently while many executives
mismanage their organization for their own gain. Management should work hard to
provide a secure working environment for their employees by planning and
executing strategies for long-term goals.”
A design and development engineer for Zeta Associates in Fairfax, VA, Dudley
White, agreed with Mr. Wegener. “In these times of overseas outsourcing, mergers
requiring layoffs, and corporate collapses, I would think job security is more
important than salary,” Mr. White said.
“I am not sure what a company can do to help with job security other than
adjusting its business model to the changing climate so that it is not caught in
the position of having layoffs,” he added. Mr. White also said that if
downsizing does occur, then a company should help workers find new employment.
Many of the respondents interviewed connected job security with job
satisfaction. Most survey takers were satisfied in their job (53%), 29% very
satisfied, and 18% not satisfied. Overall career satisfaction was 30% as very
satisfied, 59% as satisfied, and 11% as not satisfied. Compared to one year ago,
22% responded they were more satisfied, 55% said their satisfaction was the
same, and 23% felt less satisfaction.
Design Engineer Mark Barlow said job security, good salary and benefits,
challenging and creative work, and a nice working environment contribute to his
level of satisfaction at work. He works for ATK, an advanced weapon and space
systems company in Magna, UT.
“I love engineering and work effectively as long as I have a job, regardless of
salary,” said Mr. Barlow. “Yet salary is extremely important to happiness since
I have a life outside of work. I have a wife and children to support and a house
mortgage I need to pay off before I retire.”
“If I’m worrying about how to pay the bills or put my kids through college, it
affects my daily performance,” said Kirk Mill, a project engineer for L3
Communications in Bristol, PA, a company that manufactures flight test
instrumentation for the aircraft, space, and missile industries. Mr. Mill said
job security, salary, interesting work, and opportunity for advancement create
high satisfaction in his job.
 Median
Salary vs. Other Factors
Along with being mostly satisfied with their job, the typical respondent to the
2005 survey was a 46-year-old male with a bachelor’s degree in electrical
engineering who makes $75,000 a year. He works as a design/development engineer
at a company with more than 1,000 people and does not supervise any other
employees. He attends seminars and training programs, has worked in the
electronics industry for more than 20 years, and has been at his current job for
three to nine years.
However, those survey respondents who made the most money had advanced degrees
(Figure 1). Participants who earned a Ph.D. showed the highest median salary of
$110,000, up over last year’s rank of $95,000. Next in line for the big paycheck
were survey takers with master’s degrees in electrical engineering at a median
salary of $90,000, also higher than last year’s $86,000. Workers with an M.B.A.
came in third with $84,000 and recipients of other master’s degrees fourth at
$80,000.
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Figure 1. Median Salary by Education |
As a group, corporate managers pulled in the most money with a median salary of
$92,000. Second and third spots went to research and development workers at just
over $86,000 and component engineers at a little more than $80,000,
respectively. Design/development engineers showed a median salary of $80,000, and production test
engineers had an income of $76,000. Those with the job functions of
manufacturing and production engineering and QC/QA/reliability/product assurance
both were paid $70,000 (Figure 2).
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Figure 2. Median Salary by Job Function |
The variation in median salary vs. where you live in the United States was
predictable (Figure 3). Respondents to the survey living in the Pacific region
had the highest median salary at $87,000. Those living in the Northeast brought
in a salary of $76,000, and survey takers in the Mountain region showed an
income of $75,700. Workers in the Central part of the country came in fourth
place at $70,000.
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Figure 3. Median Salary by Geographical Region |
Generally, the more years you worked in the electronics industry the more pay
you received (Figure 4). Those who worked 25 to 29 years received the highest
median salary of $83,000, and those with 20 to 24 years of work in the industry
made $81,000. A total of 15 to 19 years of employment saw an income of $79,000,
and 10 to 14 years brought in $71,000 annually.
However, workers in the electronics industry with more than 30 years experience
were the exception to the rule. The median salary for that group was $75,000.
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Figure 4. Median Salary by Years in Industry |
A test engineer in the semiconductor industry in Massachusetts said older
engineers sometimes have to take pay cuts to keep their jobs. “Within the past
15 years or so, the trend has been to replace older, more seasoned engineers
with young, eager, cheaper, newly graduated ones,” he said. “In many cases, the
apprenticeship-to-mentor relationship that has been in place for the last 500
years has all but disappeared. This results in a lack of future mentors.”
The Next Generation
of Engineers
For the first time, the salary survey asked a question that addressed the future
crop of electrical engineers: Would you recommend engineering as a career for
your children? Not surprisingly, almost three-quarters of the respondents said
yes.
“My daughter wants to go into test engineering despite my warnings of a
challenging environment,” said a Massachusetts test engineer. “I didn’t
recommend it because I think the opportunities are more limited for engineering
in manufacturing, at least in the United States. Research engineering would be a
good field, but the competition for those jobs is stiff. There are a lot of
engineers currently unemployed in this area.”
Don Schumacher, a test engineer for an Illinois company, feels strongly that he
would not recommend engineering as a career choice. “I believe we are doing a
disservice by encouraging students to go into engineering,” he said. “I love
what I do, but we have sold off our engineering future. Manufacturing is dead in
the United States.”
A test engineer for another Massachusetts company that makes transmitters for
broadcast television did recommend engineering to his college-age son who is
interested in the nuclear industry. “I’ve had a rewarding 20-some years in the
electronics engineering field, both in terms of salary and job satisfaction, and
I think my son saw that,” he said. “I still consider it a good career choice
today but definitely less so than when I was starting out.”
A project engineer for a manufacturer of television broadcast equipment in
Maryland also suggested engineering to his son who currently is studying it. “I
have not always enjoyed whom I did the work for, but for the most part I have
enjoyed what I do,” he said. “It gives a creative outlet that you can’t get from
many other professions. It is challenging and a lot of hard work, but there is
nothing like the feeling of flipping the switch and watching something you
created run. The only thing better is watching your kids grow up.”
Mr. White with Zeta Associates, a company that offers systems engineering and
technical assistance to the U.S. government, said engineering has been a
rewarding career financially and emotionally, and he would recommend it to the
next generation.
“It may not get the public recognition or salaries as do doctors, lawyers, and
business executives, but there is satisfaction in doing work that benefits
mankind as a whole in areas such as energy, environment, national security,
safety, health, space exploration, transportation, and communications,” Mr.
White said. “I think there is only one other occupation that affects the future
as strongly and that is teaching. And engineers do make better salaries than
teachers.”
Salary Ranks High on Importance Scale
Another new question to the salary survey was a ranking query. Survey takers
were asked to rate the three most important work-related issues. The choices
were education, job/market security, outsourcing, pension, professional ethics,
salary, technical obsolescence, and work/life balance. The three top ranking
issues were salary (66%), work/life balance (63%), and job security (54%).
“I’m not surprised that salary was the most popular answer,” said Darrell Fine,
a calibration/test engineer at Kaman Aerospace in Bloomfield, CT. “But to me,
professional ethics is and should be most important,” he said.
Peter Ewing, a corporate manager for the Department of Defense in Redstone, AL,
said his three choices are education, salary, and work/life balance. “Education
remains important as the younger workers are sharper than ever,” he said.
“Salary is important to show yourself that you achieved something. Finally, a
work/life balance is important because a successful career is not the only
aspect of a successful life.”
Mr. Daniel of SEI Group agreed with the top three survey choices but put his
work/life balance first priority. “You can’t go through life just working or
worrying about your job and trying to make money,” he said. “All these issues
are intertwined with each other and have to be balanced for you to be content. I
think the results show a level of shallowness in the work force that leans
toward materialism over substance. Putting salary ahead of work/life balance and
job security is the reason there is no loyalty in the work force.”
A casualty of layoffs in 2003 after working 15 years at a company, Mr. Wegener
of the Department of Energy placed job security first and work/life balance as
second most important. “After my layoff, job security became much more important
to me,” he said. “While I was with my previous employer, I saw the emphasis on
work. I quickly found another job, and the culture at that organization is much
more balanced. Managers actually tell people to go home.”
A couple other survey results offer hope for the electronics industry:
Respondents said that slightly more engineers were hired than fired in 2004. The
median number of seven hired to five fired showed a small but positive turn for
the better.
In anticipation of staff changes in 2005, 43% predicted an increase in the
engineering staff, 17% projected a decrease, and 39% forecasted no change. Also,
most respondents (76%) did receive a raise in the last 12 months with a median
3.5% salary increase. |