Truly one of the most "plugged-in" occupations, electrical engineering puts power in the hands of workers in the profession, who then ensure the general public's access to it. Working with a wide range of forms of electricity, electrical engineers are involved with all steps of the production process from the first brainstorming of a new piece of equipment through testing and production.
Facts
In a 2009 survey on electrical engineer wages, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics determined the median salary for professionals in the field to be $83,110 per year. Although this figure was established as the country's median, the BLS also found several industries paying significantly higher electrical engineer salaries. Electrical engineers employed by the oil and gas extraction industry earned salaries averaging $120,140. The motion picture and video industries paid their electrical engineers an average of $109,960 per year, and the mining support industry paid an average of $108,250.
Location
Electrical engineers on the country's coastlines earned salaries higher than their mid-country colleagues. The state of Massachusetts topped the bureau's list of highest-paying states for electrical engineers, with an average wage of $100,740. Massachusetts was also the country's second-highest (behind Idaho) per-capita employer of electrical engineers. Alaska was the state with the second-highest salary average, with $100,250; California was third in salary at $97,250, followed by the District of Columbia at $96,440, and Maine at $94,310.
Considerations
The first step to earning a salary as an electrical engineer is postsecondary education in the field. The Accrediting Board of Engineering Technology accredits hundreds of schools offering bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering, including Texas Tech University, Virginia Commonwealth University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, University of New Mexico, Cedarville University, Capitol College, University of Denver and Duke University.
Outlook
Due to the prevalence of outsourcing electrical tasks, the BLS projects a very slight increase in employment of electrical engineers through 2018, adding just 2,700 jobs to the field, a growth of 2 percent. This is in contrast to the 11 percent growth overall expected for the engineering field and 72 percent growth anticipated in the biomedical engineering field.
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