In the greater scheme of things and for the time being, engineers--especially in North America--have it pretty good, at least according to their replies to the EE Times Annual Salary & Opinion Survey.
Among the findings revealed by the almost 1,600 respondents to this year's questionnaire is that engineers in the United States have median earnings, including benefits, of $108,800, slightly higher than last year's median of $104,300. That compares with European respondents' median of just over $61,000. Japanese engineers reported median earnings of $65,400.
The U.S. engineer's life isn't without its worries. There are deep concerns about job security and the outsourcing of engineering work to lower-cost markets, mainly in Europe and South Asia. But American engineers, with annual compensation nearly 40 percent higher than their closest competitors, have reason to be satisfied. In fact, slightly more than two-thirds (67 percent) of respondents declared themselves content with both career and employer. Only 14 percent expressed the opposite sentiment.
