Detroit Engineering Employment

A look at engineering employment and the local job market

Presenter’s perspective

• BSE, Civil Engineering, Princeton University (1985)

• Third-party recruiter since 1988

• Engineers and manufacturing operations managers

• Experienced recessions of 1990-92 and 2000-02

George CorserManaging Director

Aspen Search Group

This presentation was prepared for the

Engineering Society of Detroit, January 2009

Engineering career outlook

• Overall job opportunities in engineering are expected to be good, but will vary by specialty.

• A bachelor’s degree in engineering is required for most entry-level jobs.

• Starting salaries are among the highest of all college graduates.

• Continuing education is critical for engineers as technology evolves.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics 2008-09http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm

Engineers by specialization

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Source: BLS 2008-09

Red: very hot

Pink: hot

Light blue: average

Blue: cold

Example: Electrical Engineers

• Electrical engineers are expected to have employment growth of 6 percent over the projections decade, slower than the average for all occupations. Although strong demand for electrical devices—including electric power generators, wireless phone transmitters, high-density batteries, and navigation systems—should spur job growth, international competition and the use of engineering services performed in other countries will limit employment growth.

• Electrical engineers working in firms providing engineering expertise and design services to manufacturers should have better job prospects.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) 2008-09Note for prior slide: Civil and Industrial hard to outsource!

Automotive industry outlook

Automobile Manufacture's Grim Outlook for 2009• Washington DC October 7, 2008; The AIADA newsletter

reported that for the auto industry, September could be the start of a really bad stretch.

• Last month, U.S. light-vehicle sales declined 26.6 percent, and industry executives glumly predict that a turnaround won't occur until 2010.

• According to Automotive News, some analysts expect that U.S. sales this year [2008] could be as low as 13.0 million cars and trucks, a precipitous downturn from last year's 16.2 million.

Source: The Auto ChannelSource: http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2008/10/07/157958.html

Detroit’s Top 10 Employers

Top Ten Largest Employers in the Detroit Region• General Motors Corp. • Ford Motor Co. • DaimlerChrysler • Visteon Corp. • SBC • St. John Health System • Trinity Health • Henry Ford Health System • Beaumont Hospitals • Meijer Inc.

Source: Detroit Area Chamber of CommerceSource: http://www.detroitchamber.com/regional_info/index.asp?cid=14&rcid=138

Detroit employers’ stock

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Source: G

oogle Finance

Nationwide unemployment

Lingering unemployment

• Nobel prize-winning economist and NY Times columnist Paul Krugman

• Suggests that employment slump will continue even after the recession is over

• EMRATIO for last two recessions shown on the following slide

Paul Krugman, January 22, 2008, 11:09 am

Deep? Maybe. Long? Probably.

I still keep reading articles asserting that the last two recessions were brief and shallow. Formally, that’s true. But both were followed by prolonged “jobless recoveries” that felt like continuing recessions. Below is the employment-population ratio since 1989, with shading showing the official recessions. In both cases the employment slump went on for a long time after the recession was supposedly over.

Source: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/22/deep-maybe-long-probably/ [See next slide for graph]

EMRATIOs and recessions

Summary of the economy

• Continuing education remains career-critical

• International competition an increasing threat

• Domestic auto industry projects grim outlook

• Detroit and Michigan continue to struggle economically

• Employment recessions linger

• How can engineers adjust career goals accordingly?

What difference does it make? I just want to find a good job!

Addendum: challenges!

• Education (staying current, not necessarily returning to school): limited access to useful and practical training

• Relocation, national and international: can’t sell current house in this economy

• Changing industry: hard to change without serious salary sacrifices

• Change does not come without sacrifice, but many necessary sacrifices are not possible

To be continued…• For the full presentation, contact George

Corser at gcorser@aspen-search.us• Send LinkedIn invitations to

george@corser.com. • This is part of a presentation that will be

delivered at the end of January 2009 at the Engineering Society of Detroit, www.esd.org. Visit the web site to register.