There are some problems that challenge our industry but are good ones to have. One such problem facing us today, especially in Northern California, is the shortage of qualified and talented engineers and surveyors. Many of us who have gone through the difficult time that followed the financial meltdown of 2008 would agree this is a problem worth having. We can, however, expect that the problem is only going to get worse as two mega projects in the region, California Water Fix and Sites Reservoir are about to take off. And don’t forget the ongoing California High Speed Rail project.
Based on my discussions with other industry professionals, the problem is not only getting a healthy pool of applicants responding to a job posting but getting a pool of applicants with desired qualifications and experience. The problem seems to be most acute when trying to fill mid-level positions. It may still be possible to have a decent pool of candidates for entry-level positions, but that pool also appears to be drying up.
We know that California’s economy and the job market are expected go through cyclical ups and downs which affects the labor market. According to the numbers posted by California EDD, the unemployment rate in August 2018 was about 4.2 percent, down from over 10 percent during the peak of the economic crisis. This optimism in the current job market is shared by the graduating seniors in my class in SAC State. The current shortage in engineering workforce is definitely a reflection of the strong economy. And definitely, the tight market would loosen sometime in the future when the economy cools down. That should not prevent us from asking the question whether the supply of well-qualified engineers would remain strong in the future to support all the infrastructure project, not to mention the upkeep and maintenance of the aging and deteriorating infrastructure inventory.
I did a little internet search and came up with the following statistics. The US Department of labor estimates 11 percent job growth in civil engineering during next ten years or about 1.5 percent growth per year. Similar growth is predicted for surveying as well. American Society for Engineering Education indicates a growth of about 4 per cent in undergraduate enrollment in civil engineering during last year. I could not find comparable statistics for California. I don’t know how reliable these numbers are, but they seem to suggest that we don’t have a nationwide crisis in hand, but local markets may vary significantly. Notwithstanding the statistics, we should do our part to encourage and support engineering education. ACEC California and our local chapter try to do this by providing scholarships to deserving students and supporting various STEM related events. During last few years Sierra Chapter provided encouragement to young students in high school and middle school by supporting their robotics teams. Read the article by Tom Sell in this newsletter about the robotics team we supported last year.
We are doing the right thing, but we should do more as an organization, and also as individuals. May be a trip to the elementary school or middle school and talking to students about science and engineering and what scientists and engineers do may spark something in a young mind and you have a future engineer or scientist. You never know.
Few other things. Please remember to vote in November to support growth and upkeep of California’s infrastructure. As a member of engineering community, I encourage you to support Prop 3 and oppose Prop 6. You can read more about them in two articles by Marco Palilla in this newsletter.
We will have the Engineering Excellence Award ceremony this month and Mr. James Watson will be talking about challenges facing the Sites Project. Hope you can join us.
See you all!
Debanik Chaudhuri
Sierra Chapter President
2018/2019
