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EE Unemployment Rate Drops Slightly,
Still Ranks Above Other Professionals

WASHINGTON (11 July 2003) — The unemployment rate for U.S. electrical and electronics engineers (EEs) dropped in the second quarter, but remains well above the rate for other high-tech professionals, according to data compiled by the Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

After climbing to an unprecedented 7.0 percent in the first quarter, the EE jobless rate fell to 6.4 percent, still more than twice the rate for all managers and professionals (3.1). Mechanical engineers were unemployed at a rate at 3.1 percent, civil engineers at 3.9 percent and industrial engineers at 5.9 percent.

"The data suggests the EE unemployment rate went down because new jobs were added, not because of a reduction in the unemployed EE population," IEEE-USA President-Elect John Steadman said. "Just who these new jobs are going to is not clear, although we're concerned that many of them are being filled by temporary guest workers."

The BLS report showed that 17,000 more EEs were employed in the second quarter vs. the first (386,000 vs. 369,000), but that the number of jobless EEs held steady at 28,000. At 6.4 percent EE joblessness, the rate is more than six times as high as it was in 1997 (1.0), and more than four times as great as 2000 (1.2).

The second-quarter unemployment rate for all workers was 5.6 percent. The number of U.S. workers claiming jobless benefits in late June reached its highest point since February 1983, the Labor Department said.

While the jobless rate fell from 7.5 percent to 4.1 percent for computer software engineers and from 6.5 percent to 5.7 percent for computer hardware engineers, it rose from 6.7 percent to 7.5 percent for computer programmers. Computer scientists and systems analysts also saw an increase in unemployment from 4.9 percent to 5.6 percent. Despite the percentage drop for computer software engineers, 36,000 jobs were lost in that occupational category.

IEEE-USA is an organizational unit of The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., created in 1973 to advance the public good, while promoting the careers and public-policy interests of the more than 235,000 electrical, electronics, computer and software engineers who are U.S. members of the IEEE. The IEEE is the world's largest technical professional society. For more information, go to http://www.ieeeusa.org.

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Last Updated: 04 June 2003
Staff Contact:  Chris McManes, c.mcmanes@ieee.org