The past few years have been particularly tough on the electronics industry. EOEMs were hard hit by both the high-tech downturn and the increasingly sluggish U.S. economy, which stalled, slid, and snuffed out any lingering feelings of "irrational exuberance."
Many OEMs are just starting to climb out of the hole that the electronics and engineering markets fell into, but it's slow going. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the unemployment rate for EEs rose to an unprecedented 7% in the first quarter of 2003, putting 172,000 high-tech professionals out of work. Other factors like the influx of foreign workers on temporary visas and the increase in offshore outsourcing also are contributing to concerns about the employment outlook for EEs.
With this special issue, the editors of Electronic Design inaugurate an annual assessment of the engineering profession, which will include tracking trends and delivering detailed data about salaries. The information published in this issue was derived from Electronic Design's 2003 Reader Profile survey conducted from May to July 2003.
Electronic Design readers are primarily electronics engineers, engineering managers, and technical executive managers involved in design and development projects. Survey respondents mapped closely with the magazine's subscriber profile (see figure).
Nearly half (46%) of the executive/operating management respondents work at companies with fewer than 25 employees, and 52% work at firms with under $5 million in annual revenue. So it's safe to say that a good portion of these readers, while top-heavy in title, are hands-on engineering executives working at OEM startups and spinoffs.
According to the survey, engineering professionals in the U.S. currently average $86,764 annually (see figure). Those who indicate engineering management as their principal job function earn about $22,000 more or 27% higher salaries than design and development engineers.
The survey also corroborated the relationship between pay and location: Salaries in the Pacific region (California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii) top the list, averaging $96,374 annually—more than 11% above the national average (see figure). At $94,037, the New England states (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut) run a close second.
At the other end of the scale, the lowest annual pay is found in the East South Central region (Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi), where salaries weigh in at about $15,600 below the national average. Similarly, salaries in the West North Central states (Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas) are about $12,900 below the national average. Of course, housing and other living expenses influence what companies pay their employees, so it's not surprising that OEMs in high-priced areas like California, Massachusetts, and New Jersey shell out significantly more on salaries.
If a six-figure salary is your idea of success, your best bet is to sign on with one of the IC and semiconductor houses, where the average engineering salary is $106,377 (see figure). You'll do almost as well at a computer-manufacturing firm, where engineering professionals pull down an average of $101,146.
While contract manufacturing makes headlines as companies look to lower costs by outsourcing more design work, another aspect of cost cutting is keeping salaries low: With average earnings of just over $66,000, engineering professionals at EMS companies reside on the lowest rung of the pay scale.
Some of our findings confirmed common-sense assumptions. On average, bigger companies pay bigger salaries (see figure), and engineering experience translates into higher pay (see figure). If you find yourself slowing down at 40, you can expect the same of your salary growth (see figure). And these days you'll need more than a bachelor's degree to achieve parity with the average salary earned by EEs nationwide (see figure).
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