However, it's accurate to make a general statement about career opportunities for civil engineers the job market has been good for many years and will continue to be good well into the foreseeable future. Forecasters with the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) believe increased demand for civil engineers will be spurred by population growth and an expanding economy. "More civil engineers will be needed to design and construct higher capacity transportation, water supply systems, pollution control systems, and large buildings."
The BLS also notes that local, state, and federal government agencies are showing an increasing commitment toward repairing or replacing our nation's aging roads, bridges, sewer systems, and other public works infrastructure.
Despite budget deficits, cutbacks in military spending, and a general slowdown in hiring, the government sector will continue to be a major employer of civil engineers. Indeed, according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, of the 150,000 to 300,000 people hired per year by the federal government, more than half are engineers. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget predicts that the demand for engineers in the federal government will increase by more than 17 percent over the next several years. This outpaces the increase in the federal workforce of lawyers (15 percent) and management workers (10 percent), the only other white collar occupations for which federal employment increases are anticipated. The major federal employers of civil engineers are the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Departments of Defense, Transportation, and Energy.
Meanwhile, opportunities for civil engineers in state and local government agencies are expected to increase as the federal government shifts more responsibility for road building and maintenance to these agencies. The BLS estimated that in 1993, state and local government agencies, primarily state department of transportation and public works agencies, employed almost one third of the nation's civil engineers. (The federal government employed about 8 percent of the nation's civil engineers.) Federal, state, and local governments may debate funding responsibility for roads, highways, and other public works, but someone has to keep this infrastructure in good repair as well as accommodate changing population patterns (and a growing population) with new infrastructure. This someone, of course, is the civil engineer.
The number of all engineers in the United States increased from about 870,000 in 1960 to almost 1,200,000 in 1982. As of January 1996, the BLS reported 1,934,000 engineers working in the United States. As you can see, the number of engineers has more than doubled in the past 25 years. The estimated breakdown by disciplines among the engineers currently working in the United States is as follows
Table 1 EMPLOYMENT OF ENGINEERS BY SPECIALTY
Electrical engineers 611,000
Mechanical engineers 330,000
Industrial engineers 250,000
Civil engineers 231,000
Chemical engineers 80,000
Aerospace engineers 78,000
Metallurgic and materials engineers 25,000
Petroleum engineers 23,000
Surveying and mapping engineers 20,000
Nuclear engineers 14,000
Marine and naval engineers 14,000
Mining engineers 6,000
Agricultural engineers 3,000
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
The remaining 267,000 engineers fall under the category of "engineers not otherwise classified." These include men and women with engineering degrees working in engineering related research, software development, sales, academia, consulting, and diverse other areas. The number of engineers in most of these disciplines has increased by 20 to 50 percent since the early 1980s. (One exception to this trend is the number of petroleum engineers, which has decreased by about 2,000.) The ranks of civil engineers have risen by 76,000 since the early 1980s, when 155,000 civil engineers worked in the United States.
One note about this data: The BLS estimates that as many as 25 percent of the people who identify themselves as engineers and are thus included in the employment survey are not certified engineers. Some do not even have college degrees. The BLS, along with some engineering associations, have created surveys designed to more closely reflect the actual number of licensed engineers working in the United States. However, the statistics used represent the most all inclusive data available at the time of publication.
In all 50 states and the District of Columbia, a person cannot perform any engineering activity that would impact public safety unless licensed or registered to practice professional engineering.
The BLS Industry Occupational Matrix, a periodic forecast of employment trends, estimates that between 1994 and 2005 the number of civil engineers working in the United States will increase by 23.5 percent. This projected rise outpaces the projected demand for all other categories of engineers except electrical (24 percent), metallurgical (28.3 percent), and the catchall category "all others" (29 percent).
Just a brief mention of the job market for engineering technicians, positions that usually require only a two year college degree: The BLS estimates that 695,000 engineering technicians were working in the United States in 1992, and that this number will increase by 19 percent by 2005. The continuing drive by private industry to improve manufacturing facilities and product design will spur demand for engineering technicians. The BLS predicts that the demand for drafters (which the BLS lists as a separate occupation) will grow by 11 percent between 1992 (when an estimated 314,000 drafters were employed in the United States) and 2005. The demand for drafters is increasing rapidly, but this trend is being tempered by the productivity gains spurred by advances in computer aided technology.
As mentioned earlier, demand for civil engineers, as with demand for workers in any given occupation, can fluctuate. And although the demand for civil engineers will rise between now and the early part of the twenty first century, it's a safe bet to say that the job market for engineers in general will always be competitive to a greater or lesser degree. A need for civil engineers does not automatically translate into employers beating a path to the doorstep of every engineering school graduate. By taking advantage of student internships, summer employment programs, the student chapters of engineering societies, and other resources available to you in engineering schools, you will greatly enhance your prospects of landing a good entry level job in the civil engineering profession.
You should also ask your career counselor about Master Technician and similar programs if you are interested in an engineering career but unsure about plunging headlong into the pursuit of a four or five year degree in engineering. Master Technician programs, offered by many community colleges, give students training in engineering technology and skilled construction crafts. Upon completion of a two year degree, a student has the option of pursuing a career as an engineering technician or skilled craft worker, or transferring to a school of engineering and advancing to a higher education level.
