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US Predicts Zero Job Growth For Electrical Engineers (bls.gov)
dcblogs writes: An occupation long associated with innovation, electrical and electronics engineering, has stopped growing, according to the U.S. government. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, in an update of its occupational outlook released Friday, said that the number of people employed as electrical and electronics engineers is now at 316,000, and will remain mostly unchanged for the next decade. The government put the 10-year job outlook for electronic and electrical engineers at "0% — little or no change." The IEEE-USA said the BLS estimates "are probably correct."
I do robotics development in Silicon Valley for both new startups and with large established companies. Our small team is a mix of software and electrical engineers (we team up with other firms doing mechanical and industrial design) and we're finding it difficult to keep up with all the opportunities in the burgeoning robotics field. The nice thing is it seems we're just at the infancy of robotics so growth should be sustainable for quite a while.
I don't know if growth in robotics can compensate for overall declines elsewhere, but it's at least one promising area of growth for electrical engineer over the coming decade and beyond. Currently, pretty much every robot is a unique design built from the ground up so the opportunities are very similar to what was available in the Valley during the early days of computing when pretty much every computer design was unique and created from the ground up. Certainly this will eventually change, but for now it makes for fun and interesting work that is in demand.
I know a lot of people think Sander's views would put us in line with that of Nordic countries
Hahahahahaha no. There's not a US party that would stand a snowflake's chance in hell in a Norwegian election, nor a Norwegian party in a US election. For example, here's the policy for healthcare and care for the elderly of our right-most party, the Progress Party:
Elderly
What we will do
The Progress Party believes that everyone should have a good and dignified elderly. Thus it is important that the government takes the bill for elderly care, and that does not address shall determine whether you get a worthwhile offer or not.
For better elderly care, and ensure everyone a good offer, we wish to competitive tendering services in that it is the best option that takes on work - whether it is a public or private is not the most important, but that the elderly get a good services that meet their quality of life.
All older shall have the right nursing home placement when they need this. There is no municipal budgets that will be decisive for whether seniors receive the necessary help - it will come automatically through state funding. At the same time we must allow private operators to offer good services in elderly care. This way you can decide for yourself which older offerings to suit them, and reject bad deals. A4 systems does not contribute to a warm and dignified elderly.
The Progress Party believes that everyone should have a worthy offer, thus we must give the elderly the opportunity to stay at home as long as they wish. This must be done through a broad and varied offer.
(...)
Health
What we will do
Progress will change health structure fundamentally, so that patients are put in the center and that absolutely everybody gets safe and prompt medical care regardless of their wallet.
We will do this through efforts based funding, which means that hospitals receive funding based on how many patients they treat. When someone needs treatment, it should automatically get the means to treat them. In one of the richest countries, we will not experience that one does not receive health care on the basis of lack of funding. Everyone shall have the right to good health care.
Health Queues must be reduced. After they have grown so much during the coalition government it is necessary to reform health care to put patients at the center.
Free user choice is a right all patients should have. It should be up to each individual to decide how they want to receive health care. This applies to both private and public institutions. It is not up to the bureaucracy to think where and how to be treated. It is a matter between you and your doctor - no one else.
I'm guess most of this would fly like a lead balloon in the US. And the left side of our politics consists of Red, Socialist Left and the Worker's Party, proud socialists. For a good laugh watch the series "Lillyhammer" about a New York mafia boss who retreats to rural Norway, it's a hilarious culture clash. And no, it's not really all that exaggerated either.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
Keep in mind that these may be called Electrical engineers, but while the discussion here is around electronics product design,many EEs work outside outside of designing electronics. The article statistics represent a broad line of sub-specialties. Many EEs are employed as PEs working with buildings/architectural firms, manufacturing engineering, industrial controls (such as water treatment plant controls) and transmission lines. Many older embedded software engineers have EE degrees, but many of the up and coming embedded software engineers I see are not out of pure EE programs. Even for electronic design there is a lot of work writing verilog code that feels more like SW coding than biasing transistors and measuring with an O-scope. For that matter, MEs end-up with a much broader range of different subspecialties and not just drawing HVAC vents.