January 2007 Mechanical Engineering: Editorial

editorial

by the numbers

By
John G. Falcioni,
Editor-in-Chief

From the year 2000 to 2005, manufacturing jobs declined by about 18 percent in the United States. Nearly every job category saw a drop, except for pharmaceuticals. Jobs in textile mills were among the biggest losers—registering a 42 percent decline. By 2014, home health care aide is the job projected to grow the fastest.

North Americans produce more solid waste now than they did 1980—4.4 pounds, up from 3.7 pounds. Americans are also getting taller. More than 24 percent of people in their 70s are shorter than 5 foot 6, while only 10 percent of people in their 20s are.

These facts and figures, and dozens of others, come from the U.S. federal government's Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2007: The National Data Book, which was released for sale last month.

Here's more: Teenagers and adults now average the equivalent of more than 64 days per year watching television, 41 days listening to the radio, and more than a week using the Internet. Ninety-seven million Internet users searched for news, and 92 million bought some sort of product online.

What does all this mean? Draw your own conclusions.
This next bit of data says that young adults have become more pragmatic in recent years: In 1970, 79 percent of college freshmen said their main objective was to develop a meaningful philosophy for life. In 2005, 75 percent said their objective was to be financially well off.

Among graduate students, 27 percent had a parent who was born outside of the United States. The number of students from India enrolled in American colleges soared to 80,000 in 2005, up from 10,100 in 1976.

In 2004 the number of engineering-related masters and doctoral students who graduated was more than double the number in 1980. But that may still not be enough to fill the technology needs of 2007 and beyond.

"There will be an even greater need as our country and our world face new challenges and rapid advances in technology," said Frank Cook, co-author of 21 Things Every Future Engineer Should Know: A Practical Guide for Students and Parents, which was published late last year.

Thousands of high school seniors each year choose engineering as their college major, but between half and 60 percent of them change majors before graduation, Cook said.

Among the "21 Things" or questions the book tries to answer are: "Why do students leave?" "How wide a profession is engineering?" "What do I need to do in high school?" "How do I pick a college?" "Can't the computer do everything an engineer can do?" "Do I have to speak a language other than mathematics?" "Am I going to be held to any standard?" "What does the future hold?"

As students are asking themselves these questions and others, the question for the U.S. is whether America's technology future will be built and developed by homegrown Americans who will fill these jobs, or by those from other countries who sell their skills to the United States.

The U.S. Census also reports that Americans bought more than 2 billion pairs of shoes in 2004—no doubt many were used to pound the pavement looking for one of those technology jobs.