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U.S. losing share of science and engineering grads
Cnet News ^ | July 9, 2005

Posted on 07/09/2005 1:42:13 PM PDT by Panerai

ore than half a century of U.S. dominance in science and engineering may be slipping as America's share of graduates in these fields falls relative to Europe and developing nations such as China and India, a study released on Friday says.

The study, written by Richard Freeman at the National Bureau of Economic Research in Washington, warned that changes in the global science and engineering job market may require a long period of adjustment for U.S. workers.

Moves by international companies to move jobs in information technology, high-tech manufacturing and research and development to low-income developing countries were just "harbingers" of that longer-term adjustment, Freeman said.

Urgent action was needed to ensure that slippage in science and engineering education and research, a bulwark of the U.S. productivity boom and resurgence during the 1990s, did not undermine America's global economic leadership, he added.

The United States has had a substantial lead in science and technology since World War II. With just 5 percent of the world's population, it employs almost a third of science and engineering researchers, accounts for 40 percent of research and development spending and publishes 35 percent of science and engineering research papers.

Many of the world's top high-tech firms are American, and government spending on defense-related technology ensures the U.S. military's technological dominance on battlefields.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: education; engineering; engineeringstudents; highereducation; technology
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1 posted on 07/09/2005 1:42:13 PM PDT by Panerai
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To: Panerai

"Moves by international companies to move jobs in information technology, high-tech manufacturing and research and development to low-income developing countries"

Say like Microsoft, GM, etc. exporting jobs to India. Yep, explains a lot.


2 posted on 07/09/2005 1:43:58 PM PDT by lilylangtree
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To: Panerai

In the 80s and 90s one would regularly hear talk about the need for American companies to be good "corporate citizens". Those days and ideals have given way to globalization and the new super terrific "service economy".


3 posted on 07/09/2005 1:47:05 PM PDT by Texas_Jarhead
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To: Panerai

Anybody becomoing an engineer in todays world is STUPID unless they are using it as an undergrad before Med School or Law School. If you are going to engineering school go civil. They can't send all the civil jobs offshore!


4 posted on 07/09/2005 1:52:33 PM PDT by Nov3 ("This is the best election night in history." --DNC chair Terry McAuliffe Nov. 2,2004 8p.m.)
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To: Panerai

Americans are simply going to have to get used to "the next big thing" coming from overseas.


5 posted on 07/09/2005 2:01:25 PM PDT by Last Dakotan
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To: Nov3

When I was in school, civil engineering was not attractive because of its poor job prospective. Now, they are on top?

We are doomed. DOOMED.


6 posted on 07/09/2005 2:01:44 PM PDT by Fishing-guy
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To: Last Dakotan
Integration will bring Equalization among the world's economies.
7 posted on 07/09/2005 2:03:07 PM PDT by IronMan04
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To: IronMan04

Don't be too paranoid. There are expanding markets oversears that companies want part of.


8 posted on 07/09/2005 2:09:05 PM PDT by ClaireSolt (.)
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To: Panerai
"U.S. dominance in science and engineering may be slipping as America's share of graduates in these fields falls"

Duh! Let's see, we export our technical jobs where possible; we hire aliens under special visas because employers do not want to pay American wages; 1/3 of MIT etc (perhaps more) students come from outside the US - and where do they go when they graduate? ... and I haven't even gotten into the erosion of our Constitution, the Degenerats not standing for anything and the GOP looking to screw its constituents.

9 posted on 07/09/2005 2:13:48 PM PDT by A.B.Normal (Craziness is doing the same thing and expecting a different result, ask a Liberal.)
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To: IronMan04

Do you mean we will all be broke?


10 posted on 07/09/2005 2:14:41 PM PDT by A.B.Normal (Craziness is doing the same thing and expecting a different result, ask a Liberal.)
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To: Nov3
..go civil. They can't send all the civil jobs offshore ..

Interesting you should say that; at UCSD, the Structural Engineering major has doubled it's enrollement in the last two years.

In "Design of Timber Structures", a class I took last quarter, the professor remarked he was used to teaching the class to maybe 30 students (there were 92 enrolled).

11 posted on 07/09/2005 2:17:13 PM PDT by MrNatural ("...You want the truth!?...")
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To: IronMan04

Equalize to what? In how many years?

Once those jobs are gone they are not coming back.


12 posted on 07/09/2005 2:24:08 PM PDT by nairBResal
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To: Nov3

More lawyers, that's the ticket.


13 posted on 07/09/2005 2:44:47 PM PDT by Professional Engineer (My blog is one hundred characters long.)
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To: Nov3

"Anybody becomoing an engineer in todays world is STUPID unless they are using it as an undergrad before Med School or Law School. If you are going to engineering school go civil. They can't send all the civil jobs offshore!"

Just a few months ago I attended a seminar on outsourcing at one of our California State Universities. The speaker made a point that the United States graduates sixty thousand engineers each year while India graduates three hundred and fifty thousand engineers each year.

Economics students, please shift labor supply curve to the right and note what happens on the vertical axis. (Where the wage is indicated.)


14 posted on 07/09/2005 3:04:08 PM PDT by navyblue
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To: Nov3
Civil and mechanical engineering are the lowest paying of the engineering professions. Petroleum and chemical engineers make quite a bit more on average and their curriculum is much harder than most. They are always in demand.

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15 posted on 07/09/2005 4:08:02 PM PDT by jec41 (Screaming Eagle)
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To: Panerai

Why would anyone get a degree in th scientific field or engineering? With every increase in H1-B and L-1 visa holders into this country is one less job open for an American kid.


16 posted on 07/09/2005 4:15:52 PM PDT by taxed2death (A few billion here, a few trillion there...we're all friends right?)
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To: jec41
"Petroleum and chemical engineers make quite a bit more on average and their curriculum is much harder than most. They are always in demand."

Half right. Chemical engineers still do pretty well. Petroleium engineers took it seriously in the shorts during the collapse of the US oil companies in the late 1990's, and demand still hasn't recovered.

17 posted on 07/09/2005 4:23:49 PM PDT by Wonder Warthog (The Hog of Steel)
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To: Panerai
The biggest problem with engineering is engineering management.
18 posted on 07/09/2005 4:25:40 PM PDT by fso301
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To: A.B.Normal

And these companies won't accept foreign degrees from Americans but will import workers with foreign degrees for the same job.

To attend four years of college in India is 4k and it is all in English.


19 posted on 07/09/2005 4:35:28 PM PDT by dila813
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To: jec41
Civil and mechanical engineering are the lowest paying of the engineering professions.

Yeah but the civils can't have a lot of the jobs shipped offshore like most other engineering professions. Civil is the growth field. The rest are dying slowly.

20 posted on 07/09/2005 4:41:34 PM PDT by Nov3 ("This is the best election night in history." --DNC chair Terry McAuliffe Nov. 2,2004 8p.m.)
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