National Academies Press: OpenBook

Engineering Employment Characteristics (1985)

Chapter: Front Matter

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1985. Engineering Employment Characteristics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/584.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1985. Engineering Employment Characteristics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/584.
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Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

ENGINEERING EDUCATION AND PRACTICE IN THE UNITED STATES ~ . · . ~ngmeenng Employment Charactens~acs Pane} on Engineering Employment Characteristics Committee on the Education Rid Utilization of the Engineer Commission on Engineering and Technical Systems National Research Council NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS Washington, D.C. 1985

NationalAcademy Press · 2101 Constitution Avenue, NW ·Washington, D.C. 20418 NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the project were chosen for their special competences and with regard to appropriate balance. This report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors according to proce- dures approved by a Report Review Committee consisting of members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medi- cine. The National Research Council was established by the National Academy of Sci- ences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy's purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. The Council operates in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy under the authority of its congressional charter of 1863, which establishes the Acad- emy as a private, nonprofit, self-governing membership corporation. The Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in the conduct of their services to the govern- ment, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. It is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. The National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine were established in 1964 and 1970, respec- tively, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences. Support for this work has been provided by the National Science Foundation, the Department of the Air Force, the Department of the Army, the Department of Energy, the Department of the Navy, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Additionally, assistance has been provided through grants from the Eastman Kodak Company, Exxon Corporation, the General Electric Company, the IBM Corporation, the Lockheed Corporation, the Monsanto Company, and the Sloan Foundation. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 85-61693 ISBN 0-309-035 8 6-4 Printed in the United States of America

Preface This panel report was prepared as part of the overall study of engi- neering education and practice in the United States that was conducted under the guidance of the National Research Council's Committee on the Education and Utilization of the Engineer. Many of the findings and recommendations of this report were included in the summary report of the committee, * but it was possible to address the various topics in more detail here. The Panel on Engineering Employment Characteristics was charged with developing an understanding of the employment patterns of engi- neers, technologists, and technicians who they are, where they work, and what they do and of how those patterns have changed or are likely to change with time. To the extent possible, we have responded to this charge in statistical terms derived from analyses of data from standard sources. Where subjective assessments were required, we relied in part on the results of an informal survey conducted by the panel. Whatever the sources of the raw information, however, this report reflects the broad experience and seasoned judgment of the members of the panel, and I should like to thank them for their contributions. Fred W. Garry Chairman * Engineering Education and Practice in the United States: Foundations of Our Techno-Economic Future (Washington, D.C.: NationalAcademy Press, 1985~. . . . 111

Panel on Engineering Employment Characteristics FRED W. GARRY, Chairman, Vice-President, Corporate Engineering and Manufacturing, General Electric Company, Fairfield, Connecticut JOHN D. CUEEEN, Vice-President, Engineering, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Wilmington, Delaware DANIEL C. DRUCKER, Graduate Research Professor of Engineering Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville HELEN GOULDNER, Dean, College of Arts and Science, Professor of Sociology, University of Delaware, Newark LAWRENCE M. MEAD, OR., Senior Vice-President {Ret. J. Senior Management Consultant, Grumman Aerospace Corporation, Bethpage, New York M. EUGENE MERCHANT, Director, Advanced Manufacturing Research, Metcut Research Associates, Inc., Cincinnati GORDON H. MILLAR, Vice-President, Engineering, Deere &c Company, Moline, Illinois RICHARD l. REDPATH, Vice-President, Corporate Engineering, Ralston Purina, Checkerboard Square, St. Louis, Missouri JUDITH A. SCHWAN, Assistant Director, Research Laboratories Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, New York I, STEPHEN TUCKER, Program Manager, Edison Engineering, General Electric Company, Fairfield, Connecticut v

C-sult~[s BE~~ }. CULLEN, Cuber and Company Boron KENNETH hi. REESE, Nadona1 Research CouncJ' Washington' D. C. Oat [bison [ERMINE C~E~ Stab Specialist/ Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Rescarcb and Engineering 1R~J MORLEY Talc Pentagon/ Washington/ D.C. LEWIS C. INFIELD, Head/ OHiCC of Cross-Disciplinary Rcscarcb Nadonal Science Foundation/ Washington/ D.C.

Committee on the Education and Utilization of the Engineer METER A. HADDAD, Chairmen {IBM, Ret. ~ GEORGE S. ANSELL, Dean of Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute {now President, Colorado School of MinesJ JORDAN T. B^UCH, President, Jordan l. Baruch Associates ERICH BLOCH, Vice-President, IBM Corporation Now Director, National Science FoundationJ DENNIS CHAMOT, Associate Director, Department for Professional Employees, AFL/CID EDMUND T. CRANCH, President, Worcester Polytechnic Institute DANIEL C. DRUCKER, Dean of Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana Now Graduate Research Professor of Engineering Sciences, University of Florida at Gainesville) FRED W. GARRY, Vice-President, Corporate Engineering and Manufacturing, General Electric Company JOHN W. GEILS, Director of AAES/ASEE Faculty Shortage Project [AT&T, Ret.J AARON J. GELLMAN, President, Gellman Research Associates, Inc. HELEN GOULDNER, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, Professor of Sociology, University of Delaware JOHN D. KEMPER, Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California at Davis EDWARD T. KIRKPATRICK, President, Wentworth Institute of Technology . . V11

~ . ~ V111 COMMITTEE MEMBERS ERNEST S. KUH, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of California at Berkeley W. EDWARD LEAR, Executive Director, American Society for Engineering Education LAWRENCE M. MEAD, OR., Senior Management Consultant {Senior Vice-President, Ret. J. Grumman Aerospace Corporation M. EUGENE MERCHANT, Principal Scientist, Manufacturing Research, Cincinnati Milacron, Inc. Now Director, Advanced Manufacturing Research, Metcut Research Associates, Inc. ~ RICEIARD I. REDPATH, Vice-President, Ralston Purina FRANCIS E. REESE, Senior Vice-President, Monsanto Now retired) ROBERT M. SAUNDERS, Professor, Electrical Engineering, University of California at Irvine [Chairman, Board of Governors, AAES, 1983) CHARLES E. SCHAFFNER, Executive Vice-President, Syska & Hennessy JUDITH A. SCHWA, Assistant Director, Research Labs, Eastman Kodak Company HAROLD T. SHAPIRO, President, University of Michigan MORRIS A. STEINBERG, Vice-President, Science, Lockheed Corporation DONALD G. WEINERT, Executive Director, National Society of Professional Engineers SHEILA E. WIDNALL, Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Massachusetts Institute of Technology STAFF WILLIAM H. MICHAEL, TR., Executive Director VERNON H. MILES, Staff Officer AMY TANIK, Administrative Assistant COURTLAND S. LEWIS, Consultant GOVERNMENT LIAISON LEWIS G. MAY FIELD, Head, Office of Interdisciplinary Research, National Science Foundation !

Contents Executive Summary I. Introduction.......... The Role of Engineering, 5 2. The Engineering Work Force . . Numbers and Characteristics, 7 Aging and Retirement, 11 Women in Engineering, 13 Minorities in Engineering, 14 3. Utilization of Engineers ..... Employment Characteristics, 16 Concentration Ratios, 21 Efficiency of Utilization, 24 4. Quality of the Work Force . . . Current Views of Quality, 28 ... 16 ... 28 5. Resilience of the Work Force 31 Technological Obsolescence, 32 6. International Comparisons. ix ....34

x 7. Supply and Demand for Engineers. Engineering Salaries, 36 Hiring Practices, 38 The State of the fob Market, 42 Notes ................ Appendix A: Supplementary Data Engineering Employment Characteristics ............... Appendix B: Women in Engineering . . . . . . . . . . Helen Gouldner Appendix C: The Social Context of Minorities in E. . ngmeermg............................ Helen Gouldner Appendix D: Informal Mail Survey of Employers of Engineers.......... Appendix E: Report on the Role of the Federal Govemment in the Education and Utilization of the Engineer ................. WEdwardlLearan3Donal3G. Weinert CONTENTS . 36 . 43 . 45 . 56 . 59 . 63 . .69

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