In 2023, the Boston Consulting Group announced that their analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data indicates that demand for engineering skills will grow by about 13% from 2023 to 2031.
The report found that while rapid growth in generative AI (GenAI) capabilities will reduce some talent requirements, GenAI will also create new needs for engineers who can understand and interact with the technology.
Additionally, the report noted that despite significant investment and numerous programs aimed at reducing the gender gap in engineering, just 16% of US engineers are women, according to an analysis of 2022 Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
The proportion of women among US college graduates in engineering fields has remained stagnant at around 20%, with a nearly flat compound annual growth rate over the decade from 2012 to 2022.
In addition, Boston Consulting Group analysis revealed that Black Americans, Latinxs, Native Americans, and Pacific Islanders are also underrepresented relative to their incidence in the population.
Yet, increasing diversity has multiple benefits, including improving the quality of work output and innovation, as well as enlarging the supply of available talent.
Together with Boston Consulting Group, SAE International identified several challenges that hinder US efforts to address and close the engineering gap, including a mismatch between available and in-demand skills, a struggle for diversity and inclusion, insufficient reskilling and upskilling, major leaks in the pipeline, and misaligned incentives across stakeholders.
SAE noted on social media that forming partnerships between companies and educational institutions has great potential.
Such collaborations can enhance communication and transparency regarding talent demands, thereby more closely connecting educational offerings with workforce needs.
In October 2024, RS Americas, previously known as Allied Electronics, released its latest RS Engineering Talent Shortage Report. This report compiled data from various credible sources.
They include the Department of Education, the National Center for Education Statistics, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the National Science Foundation, among others.
According to RS, approximately 141,000 students graduate with a bachelor’s degree in engineering each year in the United States.
Additionally, around 50,000 master’s degrees and 12,000 doctorates are awarded annually.
Overall, the annual growth rate of engineering graduates has been relatively steady, averaging approximately 6% since the 1970s.
In 2022, the top states for engineering degrees awarded included: California (224,000 degrees, 11%), Texas (142,613 degrees, 7%), New York (141,368 degrees, 7%), Florida (111,638 degrees, 6%), and Pennsylvania (84,229 degrees, 4%).
California produces the highest number of engineering degrees, accounting for 11% of the total in the United States.
Texas and New York follow, each with 7% of the total. On a more local scale, Los Angeles County ranks first, contributing 0.3% of the U.S. total, with Suffolk County in Massachusetts coming in second at 0.2%.
Several notable institutions that offer engineering degrees in Los Angeles have likely influenced the high production of engineering graduates, including the University of Southern California (USC), UCLA, the University of California, the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), and California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona).
Aerospace engineering has been the fastest-growing major, with a nearly 103% increase in bachelor’s degrees awarded between 2002 and 2012.
Similarly, civil engineering has also seen growth, with the number of bachelor’s degree graduates in this field increasing by nearly 71% during the same period.
Mechanical engineering represents the largest group of graduates, accounting for around 25% of all engineering-related bachelor’s degrees awarded, while electrical engineering comes next with nearly 21%.
Software developers comprise the largest segment of the engineering workforce, at nearly 9%, followed by civil engineers at 6%.
Other engineering disciplines and their respective proportions include mechanical engineers (4.33%), electrical engineers (3.35%), industrial engineers (2.44%), postsecondary engineering teachers (2.24%), architectural engineers (2.23%), aerospace engineers (1.94%), and chemical engineers (1.16%).
Here are some of the top institutions awarding engineering degrees:
- Georgia Institute of Technology – 3,430 degrees
- Purdue University – 3,404 degrees
- Texas A&M University – 3,362 degrees
- Northeastern University – 2,652 degrees
- University of Michigan-Ann Arbor – 2,557 degrees
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign – 2,541 degrees
- University of California-Berkeley – 2,451 degrees
- North Carolina State University at Raleigh – 2,302 degrees
- Ohio State University-Main Campus – 2,203 degrees
- Arizona State University Campus Immersion – 2,182 degrees