September 6, 2004—CMP Media’s EE Times, the premier electronics-industry news source, reports a significant increase in the average base salary of US engineers and managers in its annual Salary & Opinion Survey. The results of this study, which surveyed more than 1,464 U.S. engineers and 472 European engineers, appeared in the August 30 special issue of EE Times and online. According to the 2004 Salary & Opinion Survey, annual salaries increased 8.4% in 2004 to $96,400 compared to $88,900 in 2003. But while 23% see more hiring at their companies than in recent years and 45% describe their current projects as “understaffed,” outsourcing is a major source of concern for engineers and managers. 64% of those surveyed perceive more work being sent overseas, and 79% maintain that more quality assurance steps need to be taken when assessing the outsourced work.
“The nature of that outsourced work is changing,” says Brian Fuller, EE Times Editor-in-Chief. “Engineers told us that they see a greater percentage of high end software and hardware design being done outside the U.S. While half of those surveyed agreed that outsourcing saves money, only a marginal percentage thought it improved quality.”
Not surprisingly, the economy was the foremost issue on engineers’ minds in this election year; although, 48% of those surveyed preferred George Bush as president as opposed to 40% supporting John Kerry.
This extensive study reports engineer’s salary by job function, geographical region, age, company size, work experience, educational background, even by marital status. Data is also compiled on job satisfaction, including job security, career aspirations as well as how engineers feel about their own job, their employer and their profession.
Another aspect of this annual study is to track, engineers’ opinions of key technologies, from System-on-Chip to Linux to 3G wireless technology; predicting which ones will reach broad acceptance, become niche or flop.
EE Times is the technology and business newsweekly serving the information needs of 150,000 U.S. engineers and technical managers.
