Slashdot Mirror
Electrical Engineering Lost 35,000 Jobs Last Year In the US
dcblogs writes "Despite an expanding use of electronics in products, the number of people working as electrical engineers in U.S. declined by 10.4% last year. The decline amounted to a loss of 35,000 jobs and increased the unemployment rate for electrical engineers from 3.4% in 2012 to 4.8% last year, an unusually high rate of job losses for this occupation. There are 300,000 people working as electrical engineers, according to U.S. Labor Department data analyzed by the IEEE-USA. In 2002, there were 385,000 electrical engineers in the U.S. Ron Hira, an assistant professor of public policy at the Rochester Institute of Technology, called the electrical engineering employment trend 'truly disturbing,' and said, 'just like America's manufacturing has been hollowed out by offshoring and globalization, it appears that electrical and electronics engineering is heading that way.'"
Is it "possible" that fears of "US-bugged hardware" are responsible? Sure, as long as those companies are using crystal balls to place their orders based on knowledge of the future. (IOW - No)
At least now we won't have to live with the suspense of wondering when the first reference to NSA would come up.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell