Engineering unemployment soared in 2Q to 8.6%

eetimes ^ | 07/07/2009 | George Leopold

[TSgt]

I was on the other side of that fence and had to pull a req right when I had selected the perfect candidate and was making an offer.

Believe me, it’s difficult from the management side in that you feel like a real ass for wasting the interviewer’s time and getting their hopes up. I could have really used that new hire...

[CodeToad]

Yep. Many computer programmers are die hard liberals. They are getting what they asked for but are too stupid to know it. They are brain washed enough to say this is Bush’s fault. It wouldn’t matter if 100 years went by with Obama in office, they would still claim it to be Bush’s fault.

[Zathras]

Yep but I am slowly seeing changes.
Our CEO is now giving indications he is very sorry he backed Bambi.

[CodeToad]

“I have NEVER seen it ANYWHERE as bad.”

In my area, Denver, 2001 was worse, far worse.

[Incorrigible]

It “soared” to below the national rate. While it still sucks it’s actually an indication that the industry is doing OK.

Hey! For guys that spent their Friday nights in the Science Library until closing time, we expect to have lower unemployment than the riff-raff!

 

[Vinnie]

Great!:(
My granddaughter just graduated w/ a mech. engineering degree.
She’s unemployed at the moment.

[The Duke]

All H1B’s need to be sent back home RIGHT NOW

Actally, I've recently worked with numerous H1B's, and they're losing their jobs in droves as well.

The actual H1B workers are as abused as any by this system. I worked with one last year who was required to leave home on the East coast to LA for a week the very night that his wife had a miscarriage. She was forced to somehow carry on, with the twin fetuses still in her body, without even having him at home. Very sad and very inhumane.

[clamper1797]

Denver is NOT Silicon Valley

[wbill]

All H1B’s need to be sent back home RIGHT NOW

Respectfully, and politely....if companies don't want to spend the $$$ on American workers, and scrimp by hiring H1B's....

What makes you think that said companies will spend money to hire Americans if all of the H1B's just get sent home?

My bet - from past experience - is that they'd just eliminate the positions altogether. Maybe hire a couple of overworked entry level guys that are too dumb to know how bad they've got it.

I saw it first hand with outsourcing. Company outsourced the IT dept - everyone kept the same desk, just switched employers. The conditions sucked, so everyone left. Replacements were not brought in until things completely broke down, then the few that came in just got pummeled.

Then, I left too. Dunno how the story ended. :-)

I guess what I'm saying is that things can always be worse. :-) Now, if you'd like to dump H1B's during boom times, when companies are willing to spend some cash....I might get behind that.

[algernonpj]

On my last full time job, I was replaced by THREE H1-B's.

Who probably couldn't accurately do half what you are capable of, but boy were they cheap!

[ßuddaßudd]

I’m bracing for another round of lay-offs this quater too..... µ

[Redbob]

Very misleading headline:

the 8.6% unemployment rate is for electrical engineers, not all engineers.

[algernonpj]

In 2002 I was out for 16 months .. BUT I was still getting 5-6 interviews a month. This time I have been out since Oct 2008 and I have had 2 interviews.

I've had a similar experience.

According to: JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 2036 -- 7/07/2009

"Unemployment for electrical engineers continues to increase. The 8.6% unemployment is bad enough, but the number is an underestimate because it doesn't include EEs that are underemployed, or who found a job in a lower paying non-engineering job.

There is plenty of evidence that unemployment statistics for engineers and computer/IT are error prone because these individuals are usually more resourceful than the general population at finding survival jobs."

[elpadre]

“...And still we import H1Bs ..”

that was my first thought - if all foreign engineers were sent home, what would the unemployment rate be??

[Zathras]

Thats very true however EE times is the electronics bible for Silicon Valley and the semiconductor world.

[r9etb]

The suits running businesses have gleefully offshored engineering jobs. I suspect there was some small measure of payback in those decisions.

Well, yeah -- the payback comes from a focus on "looking out for the share-holders." Lower costs and all that, and thus (supposedly) higher stock prices.

Their payback is in the form of higher bonuses and stock options.

There seems to be no room in such decisions for the longer-term considerations, such as what happens when the domestic manufacturing base goes away; and the "service economy" business model runs afoul of the fact that the hard capital needed to run it has moved overseas.

This is the sort of stuff Lenin was talking about when he said that capitalists would sell him the rope he used to hang them.

[algernonpj]

Yep. Many computer programmers are die hard liberals. ...

That's interesting. The IT / EE people I hang around with are mainly uber conservative; I've always thought that the few die hard liberals I've met were the exception that made the rule.

[Zathras]

Yep, Denver 2001 was a bad one!

[MrB]

They don’t say what field of EE they’re talking about either -

I’m betting power is WAAAAAY down.

My brother is an ME, and says that all coal plant construction has been halted or cancelled.

[r9etb]

that was my first thought - if all foreign engineers were sent home, what would the unemployment rate be??

Probably about the same. The H1B engineers mainly represent needed skills, rather than lower costs. My suspicion is that there is a shortage of Americans able to provide the same level of support.

If that's true, a lot of H1B slots would probably go unfilled, or be shipped overseas, rather than filled by American engineers who may not have the necessary qualifications.