WASHINGTON, May 18, 1999 — Primary incomes of electrical and electronic engineers are up 13.9 percent since 1997, according to the IEEE-USA SALARY AND FRINGE BENEFIT SURVEY, 1999-2000 edition. “This confirms what our members have been telling us all along,” IEEE-USA Survey Committe Chair Robert Nash said. “The overall picture is good, reflecting the critical role experienced engineers play in sustaining these good economic times. But there are some groups falling behind.”
According to IEEE-USA s definitive biannual survey, the January 1999 median primary income from base salaries, self-employment, commissions and bonuses for IEEE members in the U.S. was $82,000, a substantial increase from the comparable 1997 figure of $72,000. This pace exceeds inflation by more than 10 percent, and the gains for the most flexible and entrepreneurial engineers — the full-time self-employed — are even better: an average 19.4 percent increase over two years.
“Encouraging as these statistics are, they are partially offset by a continuing lag for those who entered the workforce in the early 1990s,” explained Nash. “While recent graduates and the most experienced are doing better than ever, those with two to six years experience are well below where they should be. The salaries which younger individuals make earlier in their career are a key incentive for attracting talented, future-oriented people into professional engineering — and those incentives are not keeping pace.”
“IEEE-USA has continued to refine the Salary Survey to make it even more helpful to mid-career and entry-level engineers who are considering their options,” Nash said. “We think they will find the 1999 Survey’s details about pay distinctions extremely useful."
The 1999 Survey includes an upgraded regression model for calculating income estimates for thousands of combinations of skills, experience, levels of responsibility, degrees, speciality, type of employer, and other factors, including new details on computer hardware and software and network administration. This model provides the basis for the Salary Survey’s upcoming companion volume, SALARY BENCHMARKS: A PERSONAL WORKBOOK, which provides for ranges of pay to allow engineers to consider personal circumstances for their career planning, including the possible effects location will have for 17 major metropolitan areas, as well as other parts of each U.S. region.
THE IEEE-USA SALARY & FRINGE BENEFIT SURVEY, 1999- 2000 Edition, can be obtained by calling 1-800-678-IEEE and asking for product no. UH2981. The cost is $74.95 for members and $149.95 for nonmembers.
For more information on the survey, see http://www.ieeeusa.org/CATALOG/99salary.html.