Title: Recruitment and Retention of Engineers and Managers in Transportation Agencies
Abstract:I will begin today by looking at the necessity for being concerned abut recruiting and retaining engineers and managers. I’ll look at some future trends as predicted by the American Association of Sta...I will begin today by looking at the necessity for being concerned abut recruiting and retaining engineers and managers. I’ll look at some future trends as predicted by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and touch on a guide that a task force from this group has put together. Lastly, I’ll discuss the training plan our department has developed. Why all the interest in this subject, anyway? Haven’t we managed all right so far? Why are we concerned? Several factors have caused some alarm in those who have noticed. Every survey predicts that the demand for technologically trained people will increase in the future. The National Science Board has reported that in 1986 the U.S. balance of trade in high-technology goods became, for the first time, a negative. The United States bought more high tech goods than it sold. Throughout history, technological innovation has been the primary force behind economic development and success. This relationship is universally recog nized and well-documented. For example, a recent Brookings Institute study attributes 44 percent — nearly half — of America’s increase in productivity over the last forty years to technological innovation. But these are changing times for America. Where our technological and economic supremacy once went unchallenged, we now find that no longer to be the case. The pattern of the last fifteen years — slowing productivity growth combined with growing competition from foreign producers, especially Asia and Western Europe — has led to record trade deficits, a decline in real earnings of American workers, and a stagnant standard of living. Restoring America’s com petitive position in the global marketplace is one of the most demanding challenges facing America's leadership today. For the last ten years, employment of scientists and engineers has grown at the rate of 7 percent annually. This is twice that of the total work force. After 1995 the need will increase further as scientists and engineers who entered the market in the 1950s and 1960s following the Sputnik launch, reach retirement age. Many engineers will be needed in the academic area to teach and do research, as the high retirement rate will prevail here as well. The Wall Street Journal stated in November of 1988 that at that time there were eighteen hundred faculty vacancies in U.S. engineering universities and colleges. The crumbling infrastructure in the country is going to require large numbers of trained people to build or rebuild structures, water and waste systems and, of course, transportation systems. The National Science Foundation has predictedRead More
Publication Year: 1990
Publication Date: 1990-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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