Unfortunately, most of the engineering jobs are going overseas. Good engineering jobs follow the manufacturing industries. If more of the refining, petrochemical, and chemical industries move overseas, then the engineering jobs will follow them.
I spent much of the 90's as an engineer trying to salvage a career. I had very good grades through bachelor's and master's degrees at major public universities. I had excellent performance appraisals at work. However, when I was laid off, I found few jobs available and had only one offer over the next five years. That job wasn't worth having, and I returned to school to get another engineering degree. I landed back at a good employer in '99, but I'll never recover the salary and benefits that I lost in the 90's. Fifteen to twenty years ago, engineers constantly received calls from headhunters wanting them to consider other jobs. I haven't been called by a headhunter in years.
I understand that people who find themselves in a dying industry are going to have problems. We're going to have work pretty hard just to stay above water, and we're going to have to put up with many situations that we don't like. I don't like it, but it's a part of life. However, there's no reason that I would push someone else to put himself in the same situation that I'm facing. There will be a few engineering jobs left for a long time, but it won't be as it once was. I'd certainly not push anyone towards engineering the way that my generation was pushed.
There are things that we can do to reverse the situation. If we'd do those things, the chemical, petrochemical, and refining industries would recover somewhat and there would again be a high demand for engineers. At that time, I think encouraging people to go into the engineering disciplines would be a good thing to do.
Bill
I would have to see some reliable data before I would believe that "most" of the engineering jobs are going overseas.
Nevertheless, I have no doubt that the demand for chemical engineers is down in the traditional petroleum and chemical industries. Part of that may be the result of government policies that are unfriendly to such industries. (How difficult would it be to get approval to build a new refinery in the United States these days?)
More important, perhaps, is that those are "mature" industries. (That sounds much better than saying "dying" industries.) Even if the business climate were to improve drastically, it is doubtful that the petroleum and chemical industries would ever need as many chemical engineers as they once did.
The chemical engineering profession is either going to adapt or whither away. Chemical engineers appear to be adapting. They are going into nontraditional fields such as biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, materials, and food engineering. Even so, it would not surprise me if the numbers of chemical engineers declines.