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THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION
A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition, 2010
THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION

A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition, 2010
Andre Kaspura
THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010
The Engineering Profession, A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition, 2010 ISBN 978-0858259553 Author: Andre Kaspura Institution of Engineers Australia 2010 All rights reserved. Other than brief extracts, no part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the written consent of the publisher. The report can be downloaded at www.engineersaustralia.org.au
National and International Policy Engineers Australia 11 National Circuit, Barton ACT 2600 Tel: 02 6270 6555 Fax: 02 6273 4200 Email: policy@engineersaustralia.org.au www.engineersaustralia.org.au
CONTENTS
1 THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION AND STATISTICAL MEASUREMENT 1.1 The Purpose of the Statistical Handbook 1.2 The Engineering Profession 1.3 Methodology 1.4 Outline of the Statistical Handbook 2 UNIVERSITY COURSES IN ENGINEERING 2.1 Engineers Australias Role 2.2 Year 12 School Participation in Mathematics and Science 2.3 Commencements 2.4 Overall Enrolments 2.5 Completions 2.6 Engineering Completions Compared to Other Disciplines 3 NEW ENTRY LEVEL ENGINEERS 3.1 The Engineering Profession in Australia 3.2 Three Year Degrees in Engineering 3.3 Four Year Degrees in Engineering 3.4 Double Degrees in Engineering 3.5 Unknown Duration 3.6 Engineering Degree Completions 3.7 Completion of Associate Degrees and Diplomas 3.8 The Potential Flow of Graduates to the Engineering Profession 4 SKILLED MIGRATION 4.1 Skilled Migrants and the Recognition of Engineering Qualifications 4.2 Permanent Migration 4.3 Temporary Migration 5 OTHER CHARACTERISTICS OF ENGINEERS 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Responsibility Levels 5.3 Age 5.4 Work Experience 5.5 Salary Packages 5.6 Graduate Commencing Salaries 6 WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT ENGINEERING SKILLS SHORTAGES? 6.1 Introduction 6.2 The Base Line for Evaluation of Skill Shortages 6.3 Survey Evidence 6.4 Relative Skills Shortage Index 6.5 Surrogate Measures of Supply and Demand 1 1 2 4
6 6 9 14 17 20
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50 50 53 56 57
CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES
CHAPTER 2 Table 2.1 Participation in Mathematics in Australia Table 2.2. Year 12 Science Participation in Australian Schools Table 2.3 Students Commencing Australian University Engineering and Related Technology Courses, by Domicile Table 2.4 Students Commencing Australian University Engineering and Related Technology Courses, by Gender Table 2.5 Domestic Students Commencing Australian University Engineering and Related Technology Courses Table 2.6 Overseas Students Commencing Australian University Engineering and Related Technology Courses Table 2.7 Students Enrolled in Australian University Engineering and Related Technology Courses, by Domicile Table 2.8 Students Enrolled in Australian University Engineering and Related Technology Courses, by Gender Table 2.9 Domestic Students Enrolled in Australian University Engineering and Related Technology Cours Table 2.10 Overseas Students Enrolled in Australian University Engineering and Related Technology Courses Table 2.11 Students Completing Awards in Engineering and Related Technologies from Australian Universities, by Domicile Table 2.12 Students Completing Awards in Engineering and Related Technologies from Australian Universities, by Gender Table 2.13 Domestic Students Completing Awards in Engineering and Related Technologies from Australian Universities Table 2.14 Overseas Students Completing Awards in Engineering and Related Technologies from Australian Universities CHAPTER 3 Table 3.1 Domestic Students CompletingThree Year Bachelors Degrees in Engineering, By Engineering Discipline Table 3.2 Domestic Students Completing Four Year Bachelors Degrees in Engineering, By Engineering Discipline Table 3.3 Domestic Students Completing Four Year Double Degree Programs In Engineering, By Engineering Discipline Table 3.4 Domestic Students Completing Bachelors Degrees in Engineering Of all Durations, by Engineering Discipline Table 3.5 Students Completing AQF Diplomas and Advanced Diplomas in Engineering From Australian TAFE Colleges, by Engineering Discipline Table 3.6 University Completions of Associate Degrees, Diplomas and Advanced Diplomas in Engineering Table 3.7 The Potential Flow of New Graduates to the Engineering Profession CHAPTER 4 Table 4.1 Immigration of Engineers to Australia Table 4.2 Immigration of Civil Engineers to Australia Table 4.3 Immigration of Electrical and Electronic Engineers to Australia Table 4.4 Immigration of Mechanical and Production Engineers to Australia Table 4.5 Immigration of Mining and Materials Engineers to Australia Table 4.6 Immigration of Engineering Technologists to Australia Table 4.7 Immigration of Other Engineers to Australia 7 8 10 10 11 12 15 15 16 16 18 18 19 19
23 25 26 27 29 30 31
34 35 35 36 36 36 37
CONTENTS
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THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010 CHAPTER 5 Table 5.1 The Mean Age of Private Sector Engineers Table 5.2 The Mean Age of Public Sector Engineers Table 5.3 The Mean Ages of Engineers in Australia Table 5.4 Mean Years of Work Experience of Private Sector Engineers Table 5.5 Mean Years of Work Experience of Public Sector Engineers Table 5.6 Mean Salaries of Private Sector Engineers (2007-08 Prices) Table 5.7 Mean Salaries of Public Sector Engineers (2007-08 Prices) Table 5.8 Mean Graduate Engineering Commencing Salaries CHAPTER 6 Table 6.1 Unemployment Rates for Qualified Engineers in the 2006 Population Census Table 6.2 Unemployment Rates for Engineering Education Specialisations in 2006 Table 6.3 An Overview of Engineering Skills Shotages Since 2006 Table 6.4 Recruiting Problems Experienced as a Result of Engineering Skills Shortages Table 6.5 Consequences of Engineering Skills Shortages Table 6.6 New Graduate Relative Skills Shortage Index Table 6.7 Relative Skills Shortage Index foe Engineering Disciplines
40 40 41 42 42 44 44 48
51 52 53 54 54 56 56
CONTENTS Page iii
LIST OF FIGURES
CHAPTER 2 Figure 2.1 Year 12 Participation in Mathematics in Australia Figure 2.2 Year 12 Participation in Physics and Chemistry in Australia Figure 2.3 The Trend in Domestic and Overseas Student Commencements in Bachelors Degrees Figure 2.4 The Gender Composition of Domestic Commencements in Bachelors Degrees Figure 2.5 The Trend in Domestic and Overseas Coursework Masters Degree Commencements Figure 2.6 The Distribution of Domestic Bachelors Commencements In Engineering And Related Technologies Between Jurisdictions Figure 2.7 The Distribution of Overseas Students Commencing Courses in Engineering and Relate Technologies Across Jurisdictions Figure 2.8 Domestic Engineering & Related Technologies Course Completions as Shares of Domestic Course Completions in All Disciplines Figure 2.9 Engineering and Related Technologies Completions by Overseas Students as a Share of all Overseas Completions CHAPTER 3 Figure 3.1 Completions of Bachelors Degrees in Engineering since 2001 Figure 3.2 Engineering Specialisations Among Completions of Bachelors Degrees Figure 3.3 The Potential Flow of New Graduates to the Engineering Profession CHAPTER 4 Figure 4.1 Engineers Migrating to Australia by Visa Type Figure 4.2 Domestic Engineering Bachelors Completions Compared to Permanent And Temporary Migration of Engineers CHAPTER 5 Figure 5.1 The Mean Ages of Australian Engineers Figure 5.2 Mean Years of Work Experience of Private Sector Engineers Figure 5 3 Mean Years of Work Experience of Public Sector Engineers Figure 5.4 Comparing Private and Public Sector Engineers Level 1 Salary Packages Figure 5.5 Comparing Private and Public Sector Engineers Level 2 Salary Packages Figure 5.6 Comparing Private and Public Sector Engineers Level 3 Salary Packages Figure 5.7 Comparing Private and Public Sector Engineers Level 4 Salary Packages Figure 5.8 Comparing Private and Public Sector Engineers Level 5 Salary Packages Figure 5.9 Comparing Private and Public Sector Salary Packages for Engineer Above Level 5 Figure 5.10 Engineering Graduate Salaries relative to Average Ordinary Earnings CHAPTER 6 Figure 6.1 Unemployment Rates for Qualified Engineers in 2006 Figure 6.2 Engineering Skills Shortages in Australia for Different Responsibility Levels Figure 6.3 Engineering Skill Shortages by Discipline Figure 6.4 Forecasting Engineering Construction Compared to Corresponding Growth in New Domestic Graduates 7 8 12 12 13 13 14 20 21
28 28 31
34 37
41 43 43 45 45 46 46 47 47 48
51 55 55 57
THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION AND STATISTICAL MEASUREMENT
iv
1.
1.1 The Purpose of the Statistical Handbook

Engineers and engineering have been vital contributors to Australias prosperity and lifestyle. In the future, engineers will be called upon to help resolve water shortages, to improve the quality and environmental integrity of the built environment, to assist adaptation to cope with Australias changing climate and to implement the energy, transport and industrial changes necessary to avoid catastrophic climate change. This Statistical Overview aims to provide a range of information relavent to the engineering profession in Australia to assist policy development and planning on matters involving the profession.
1.2 The Engineering Profession

Engineers Australia is the peak body for the engineering profession in Australia. The engineering profession comprises occupations, vocations and careers in which specialised knowledge is directed to useful and economical ends1. The activities of the profession involve people, money, materials, machines and energy in combinations that are infinitely variable2. The engineering profession is engaged in an extraordinary variety of occupations and is not limited to particular occupations3. A common misconception is to think about the engineering profession as limited to specific jobs that typically include engineering in job titles. Engineering occupations are the starting point for many engineering careers and many engineers prefer long careers in them. However, as society has developed, the demand for engineering skills and expertise4 has widened to encompass new areas. Engineering now comprises a wide range of career paths, including traditional engineering occupations, research and design, construction, distribution and production, management and administration, university and TAFE teachers, information technology and in the defense forces. Following some experience in an engineering occupation, career progression involves the choices familiar to all professions and walks of life, with inevitable moves to new jobs offering greater challenges and higher remuneration. For the individuals concerned, the move from one job to the next is often a seamless progression, but for statisticians working with formal classification systems, serious difficulties arise because job nomenclature changes and engineering expertise is practiced in different ways. Job titles typical in an engineering career include Civil (or Mechanical or Electrical etc) Engineer, Engineering Manager, Project Manager, Design Manager, Operational Planner, Quality Manager, Executive Director and Group General Manager5. These are all recognised in the statistical classification
Adapted from Joseph W Barker, McGraw Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 2 Ed, New York, 1993, pp409-10 2 Op cit 3 For an analysis of the US situation see The Education and Employment of Engineering Graduates, Engineering Workforce Project Report No 1, Abt Associates, for the National Science Foundation, June 2004, www.abtassociates.com 4 See for example Department of Education, Science and Training, Science, Engineering and Technology Skills Audit, July 2006, www.dest.gov.au 5 See the description of engineering responsibility levels, how they are connected to qualifications and experience and the associated job titles in APESMA, Professional Engineer Remuneration Survey Report, December 2007, pp8-9, www.apesma.asn.au
nd
THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010 system used by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, but often users limit their attention the first group of occupations. Past Editions of this Statistical Overview have examined the distinction between the number of individuals in Australia holding engineering qualifications and the engineering profession using pre-designed statistical tables from the Population Census provided by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on a consultancy basis. The ABS has now made available a flexible facility to analyse Census statistics (Tablebuilder) and this has been used to undertake a more extensive and robust profile of engineers and the engineering profession in Australia published6 separately. Accordingly, this Edition of the Statistical Overview does not repeat the Chapter 2 of past Editions.
1.3 Methodology
In Australia the engineering profession is organised into three occupational groups according to the educational qualifications held and the professional experience of individuals. The groups are: Professional Engineers apply lifelong learning, critical perception and engineering judgment to the performance of engineering services. Professional Engineers challenge current thinking and conceptualise alternative approaches, often engaging in research and development of new engineering principles, technologies and materials. Professional Engineers apply their analytical skills and well developed grasp of scientific principles and engineering theory to design original and novel solutions to complex problems. Professional Engineers exercise a disciplined and systemmatic approach to innovation and creativity, comprehension of risks and benefits and use informed professional judgment to select optimal solutions, justify and defend these selections to clients, colleagues and the community. Professional Engineers require at least the equivalent of the competencies in a four year Bachelors degrees in engineering. Engineering Technologists exercise ingenuity, originality and understanding in adapting and applying technologies, developing related new technologies or applying scientific knowledge within their specialised environment. The education, expertise and analytical skills of Engineering Technologists equip them with a robust understanding of the theoretical and practical application of engineering and technical principles. Within their specialisation, Engineering Technologists contribute to the improvement of standards and codes of practise, and the adaptation of established technologies to new situations. Engineering Technologists require at least the equivalent of the competencies in a three year Bachelors degree in engineering. Engineering Associates apply detailed knowledge of standards and codes of practice to selecting, specifying, installing, commissioning, monitoring, maintaining, repairing and modifying complex assets such as structures, plant, equipment, components and systems. The education, training and experience of Engineering Associates equip them with the necessary theoretical knowledge and analytical skills for testing, fault diagnosis and understanding the limitations of complex assets in familiar operating situations. Engineering Associates require at least the equivalent of the competencies in an Associate degree in engineering or a diploma or advanced diploma in engineering from a university or TAFE college.
All data available from the ABS are classified according to standard classification systems described on the ABS web-site. Education statistics are classified according to the Australian Standard Classification of Education (ASCED). ASCED differentiates between fields of
Engineers Australia, Engineers and the Engineering Profession in Australia: A Profile from the 2006 Population Census, 2010, www.engineersaustralia.org.au
6
THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010 education and levels of education. So far as level of education is concerned, Bachelors Honours degrees are treated as notionally of four years duration and Bachelors Pass degrees are notionally treated as between three and six years duration7. This means that in ABS census and other data collections, no distinction is drawn between Professional Engineers and Engineering Technologists. However, because the ABS data are organised around the AQF framework, separate data for Engineering Associates can be obtained. There is also an important issue that involves the fields dimension for the main element of the classification dealing with engineering, ASCED 03 Engineering and Related Technologies. This is one of 12 broad fields of education identified in ASCED and covers all the accepted fields of engineering education. The issue is that ASCED 0311 Geomatic Engineering is treated as an engineering field of education instead of a separate profession, surveying. By including surveying with engineering, the numbers of engineering graduates is overstated. In the past, the extent of this problem was unknown, but as a result of tailored data request to the ABS and to the organisations from which education statistics were sourced, separation between engineering and surveying graduates is now possible for large amounts of data. Unfortunately, resource limitations and some data limitations mean that the problem persists in some cases. The University statistics in Chapter 3 were obtained from the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) and the TAFE statistics in Chapter 4 from the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER). Both agencies use the ASCED classification system. DEEWR data were obtained for commencing students, students currently studying and completing students. These statistics are provided for ASCED 03 Engineering and Related Technologies and thus include ASCED 0311 Geomatic Engineering or surveying. However, entry level completions data for Australian universities were obtained in more detailed form and it was possible to separate Geomatic Engineering from mainstream engineering. Unlike the ABS, DEEWR was also able to separate completions of three year degrees, four year degrees and degrees longer than four years (mainly double degrees). All educational qualifications in Australia are classified according to the Australian Standard Classification of Qualifications framework (AQF). This ensures that equivalent qualifications are treated consistently. This is particularly important in respect to the qualifications for Engineering Associates. Some universities offer Associate degrees and Diplomas and Advanced Diplomas in Engineering. But, the main body of potential Engineering associates graduate from Australias Tertiary and Further Education (TAFE) system. Statistics on TAFE graduations are available from 2002 onwards, one year less than for university statistics, and use different rounding and randomizing for privacy reasons. The terminology used generally are the terms used by the agencies collecting the statistics reported. When there is a need to relate statistical desciptions to terms used by engineering organisations this is done appropriately. In the Sixth and earlier Editions of the Statistics Handbook time series statistics before and a change in classification systems in 2001 were combined. Relevant caveats applying to the discontinuity in the series in the year of the change were explained. This continuity was relatively minor at aggregate level but quite important at disaggregated levels. In this Edition sufficient statistics have been collected using current classifications for most time series purposes and the use of pre-2001 statistics has been discontinued. Readers interested in earlier statistics are referred to the Sixth Edition of the Statistical Overview. As was the case in the Sixth Edition, only aggregate Australia wide data are presented here, except for a few examples to illustrate distributional issues. Users who require data on the
7
ABS, Australian Standard Classification of Education, 2001, p40, www.abs.gov.au
THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010 engineering profession at State and/or Territory level can obtain this from the Supplement to the Statistical Handbook available from the Engineers Australia web-site8. Finally, a comment on data and resource availability is required. The availability of data freely on the internet has improved significantly in recent years. Each of the agencies (DEEWR. ABS, NCVER and the Department of Immigration and Citizenship) from which data were obtained for the Statistical Overview provide large amounts of data in this way. However, in most cases, the data required for useful analyses of engineers and engineering require a more detailed level of disaggregation than generally available on the web. In most cases disaggregated statistics are obtainable, but on a fee for service basis. Resource constraints mean that improvements in statistics requires an incremental approach over time. The main improvement in this round is the result of investment in the ABS Tablebuilder facility. This process will continue so that over time, continuous improvement is achieved.
1.4 Outline of the Statistical Handbook

This Statistical Overview comprises primarily flow statistics relevant to the supply of engineers. A separate publication now deals with a comprehensive analysis of statistics on engineers and the engineering profession using 2006 Population Census. This means that Census statistics are no longer included in the Statistical Overview. Chapter 2 deals with the education of engineers beginning with the potential pool of candidates for engineering courses in senior high schools and the flow of students through different stages of university courses in Engineering and Related Technologies. Only university statistics are covered because TAFE statistics on commencements and total enrolments are not available and for the reason explained above about what is included in Engineering and related technologies. TAFE completions statistics are covered in chapter 4. The Tables in chapter 2 clearly distinguish domestic students, who are able to directly move into the Australian labour force and overseas students who can only join the Australian labour force after successfully negotiating immigration formalities. The Chapter includes a limited comparison between trends in Engineering and Related Technologies and other disciplines. Chapter 3 focuses on the potential flow of new graduates in engineering to the labour market. This comprises domestic engineering course completions and the focus is on completions of Bachelors Degrees of different durations, Associate Degrees and Diplomas and Advanced Diplomas in engineering. Some new graduates do not immediately join the labour market but continue on to higher education, both in Australia and overseas, some new graduates leave Australia to work overseas and some choose occupations unrelated to their engineering studies. At this stage statistics on these different routes are not available in consistent form and further work is necessary. The domestic supply of new engineering graduates has not been able to keep pace with increases in the demand for engineers in recent years. Government policies to deal with shortages have increased the number of new fully funded engineering places in universities and TAFEs and through the immigration of suitably qualified engineers. Chapter 2 covers the former and Chapter 4 covers the changes in migrant engineers from permanent and temporary migration. Permanent visas entries are differentiated according to whether applicants were on-shore or off-shore. On-shore applicants are likely to include a significant number of overseas student completing Bachelors and Coursework Masters Degrees. Offshore applicants are also likely to include some with Australian engineering qualifications, but these applicants have spent some time back in their country of origin before seeking a visa to come to Australia.
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www.engineersaustralia.org.au/resources-and-library/resources-and-library-home.cfm
Chapter 5 looks at several characteristics of engineers using survey data from the remuneration surveys undertaken by the Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers, Australia (APESMA). This survey has been running for over two decades and offers the opportunity to consider how the average age, work experience and salary packages of engineers have changed for different experience categories. These statistics relate only to Professional Engineers. Ideally, the adequacy of engineers in the Australian labour market should be investigated using consistent statistics for the supply of, and demand for, engineers in the different circumstances in engineers are employed. Unfortunately, this is not possible with the statistics presently available in Australia. Limitations include differences in definitions and classification systems, the ways in which some data are gathered and the need to use data designed to meet other needs9. As is often the case, what is available determines what is possible. Despite the difficulties, the statistics in this Handbook build a useful narrative describing the engineering profession in Australia. Chapter 6 complies a range of statistics on the adequacy of engineering numbers. Direct evidence on the shortage of engineers from the Population Census in 2006 is reported as well as alternative indirect or surrogate approaches for subsequent years. Surrogate measures have important limitations, but when considered together and in conjunction with the direct evidence from the Census, they provide useful confirmation of anecdotal information available to Engineers Australia and other organisations. The most important information gap relates to the retirement of engineers from the labour market. Census statistics show that the age structure of qualified engineers is older than the age structure of the equivalently qualified individuals in Australian workforce. The age structure for the engineering profession is dicotomous with higher shares in the oldest age groups but also higher shares in some of the younger age groups. Retirement patterns for engineers requires more research and the first step is an Engineers Australia retirement intentions survey. The results of this work will be available later in 2010.
In the USA data on engineering and science professionals are collected in several inter-related and purpose designed surveys undertaken by the National Science Board, see National Science Board, Science and Engineering Indicators, 2008, www.nsf.gov . This is a different methodological approach to the Australian data collection.
2.
UNIVERSITY COURSES IN ENGINEERING
2.1 Engineers Australias Role

In Australia, accreditation of undergraduate engineering programs is the responsibility of Engineers Australia. Accreditation ensures academic institutions consistently meet national and international benchmarks, and engineering graduates of an accredited program are assured membership with Engineers Australia at the relevant career grade, and may enjoy reciprocal privileges by equivalent professional bodies, both in Australia and overseas. Full details of the accreditation process and of accredited courses are available on the Engineers Australia web site10.
2.2 Year 12 School Participation in Mathematics and Science

This section looks at new data from a recent Report by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) on the participation of Australian students in science, mathematics and technology11 and builds on statistics presented in earlier editions of the Overview. In particular, science statistics are more specific than in the past but mathematics statistics are an update on those reported by by Barrington12. The ACER Report looks at an updated categorisation of mathematics courses that incorporated new subjects and other changes made in recent years13. The three levels of mathematics identified were: Advanced mathematics; typically taken by students planning to proceed to tertiary studies that require the strongest mathematics preparations such as engineering, actuarial studies, mathematics and the physical sciences. Intermediate mathematics; typically taken by students who plan to proceed to tertiary studies which require significant but not extensive mathematical preparation such as science, medicine, economics and commerce. Fundamental mathematics; typically taken as a final year subject but not suitable as a mathematical foundation for tertiary studies.
Table 2.1 shows the number of year 12 students studying advanced, intermediate and fundamental mathematics since 2001 and Figure 2.1 illustrates the trends in this Table.. A key conclusion, from Barrington, noted in earlier Editions was that the proportion of year 12 studying advanced and intermediate mathematics has fallen. The ACER statistics confirm this conclusion as shown in Figure 3.1. In 2001, 26,216, or 13.9% of year 12 students studied advanced mathematics but, by 2007, the number had fallen to 22,999 and the share to 11.6%. A similar change took place in intermediate mathematics with numbers falling from 65,323 in 2001 to 60,723 in 2007 and shares falling from 34.7% to 30.6% respectively. Conversely, both the numbers and shares of students undertaking other levels of mathematics have both increased.
www.engineersaustralia.org.au/education John Ainley, Julie Kos and Marina Nicholas, Participation in Science, Mathematics and Technology in Australian Education, ACER Research Monograph No 63, August 2008, www.acer.edu.au 12 Frank Barrington, Participation in Year 12 Mathematics across Australia 1995-2004, 2006, ICE-EM Publications, University of Melbourne 13 Ainley et al, p29
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UNIVERSITY COURSE IN ENGINEERING
TABLE 2.1 YEAR 12 PARTICIPATION IN MATHEMATICS IN AUSTRALIA LEVEL 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 ADVANCED Number 26216 26350 27096 27873 25144 Percent 13.9 13.6 14 14.4 12.9 INTERMEDIATE Number 65323 63933 63923 63167 64203 Percent 34.7 33 33 32.7 33.1 OTHER LEVELS Number 79644 83047 83023 83020 81771 Percent 42.3 42.9 42.9 43 42.1 Source: Ainley, Kos and Nicholas, ACER, 2008 2006 2007
23997 22999 12.2 11.6 62071 60723 31.6 30.6 84122 92044 42.8 46.4
FIGURE 2.1: YEAR 12 PARTICIPATION IN MATHEMATICS IN AUSTRALIA

50
45
40
35
30
25
ADVANCED INTERMEDIATE OTHER LEVELS
20
15
10 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
In the past, the mathematics background of students commencing engineering was relatively homogeneous. Most were expected to have advanced school mathematics, but the declining proportion of year 12 student with advanced level mathematics has meant that universities have considered programs to upgrade student mathematics understanding. The greater diversity of mathematics backgrounds accepted by universities and ways to deal with this by different universities was recently examined by the Carrick Institute to better inform educators to facilitate a more concerted national effort14. Table 2.2 shows the trends in year 12 participation in science subjects since 2001. Figure 2.2 puts the trends for physics and chemistry into a longer term context. Physics and chemistry are both important enabling subjects for engineering courses. Table 2.2 shows that the number of year 12 students studying chemistry has increased from 33,554, or 17.8% in 2001 to 35,697, or 18.0% in 2007. But as Figure 2.2 shows, this recent change leaves the share of students taking chemistry well below long term trends. In 1976,
Philip Broadbridge and Simi Henderson, Mathematics Education for 21 Century Engineering Students, sponsored by the Carrick Institute, Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute, March 2008, www.amsi.org.au
14 st
THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010 28.6% of year 12 students studied chemistry and this share fell continuously to a minimum of 17.1% in 2002..
TABLE 2.2 YEAR 12 SCIENCE PARTICIPATION IN AUSTRALIAN SCHOOLS SUBJECT 2001 2002 2003 2004 Students enrolled BIOLOGY 47744 47770 48532 48774 CHEMISTRY 33554 33105 34074 35230 PHYSICS 31016 30552 31141 31588 PSYCHOLOGY 14670 15037 15824 16386 GEOLOGY 1888 1809 1865 1956 OTHER 14713 14650 14617 13823 Percent of Year 12 cohort BIOLOGY 25.4 24.7 25.1 25.2 CHEMISTRY 17.8 17.1 17.6 18.2 PHYSICS 16.5 15.8 16.1 16.3 PSYCHOLOGY 7.8 7.8 8.2 8.5 GEOLOGY 1.0 0.9 1.0 1.0 OTHER 7.8 7.6 7.5 7.2 Percent of original Year 8 cohort BIOLOGY 18.6 18.5 18.9 19.1 CHEMISTRY 13.1 12.8 13.3 13.8 PHYSICS 12.1 11.8 12.1 12.4 PSYCHOLOGY 5.7 5.8 6.2 6.4 GEOLOGY 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.8 OTHER 5.7 5.7 5.7 5.4 Source: Ainley, Kos and Nicholas, ACER, 2008 2005 48807 35734 29506 16982 2070 13421 25.1 18.4 15.2 8.7 1.1 6.9 18.9 13.9 11.4 6.6 0.8 5.2 2006 49245 35490 28730 18124 1883 13532 25.1 18.1 14.6 9.2 1.0 6.9 18.7 13.5 10.9 6.9 0.7 5.1 2007 48964 35697 28931 16858 1684 16386 24.7 18.0 14.6 8.5 0.8 8.3 18.4 13.4 10.8 6.3 0.6 6.1
24 23 22 21 20
FIGURE 2.2: YEAR 12 PARTICIPATION IN PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY IN AUSTRALIA

CHEMISTRY PHYSICS
19 18 17 16 15 14 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
In physic, the recent statistics in Table 2.2 are a continuation of the long term trend. In 1976, 27.5% of year 12 students studied physics but by 2007 this had fallen to 14.6%.
THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010 Engineering competes with many other disciplines for year 12 students with advanced mathematics and physics and chemistry backgrounds. The demands for professional skills in science, mathematics, medicine, accounting and engineering have increased significantly in line with the growth of the Australian economy. The trends discussed above indicate that this increasing demand confronts a declining pool of eligible year 12 graduates.
2.3 Commencements
This Section looks at commencements in Engineering and Related Technologies university courses. Tables 2.3 to 2.4 show these statistics in different forms. Table 2.3 looks at commencements by course level and domicile, drawing the distinction between domestic and overseas commencements from 2001 to 2008. Table 2.4 highlights the gender composition of commencements. Tables 2.5 and 2.6 look at domestic and overseas commencements in more detail. All four Tables look at the level of course commenced15. Overall commencements in Engineering and related Technology courses increased from 19,304 in 2001 to 23,271 in 2008, an increase of 3,967 or 20.6%. This increase was in two parts. Domestic student commencements increased from 14,024 in 2001 to 14,680 in 2008, having first fallen to 13,580 in 2005. The increase was 656, or 4.7% of the 2001 figure. Another way to view this is that the increase in domestic commencements was 16.5% of the overall increase. The remaining 3,311 increase in commencements came from overseas students. This was an increase of 62.7%. Between 2007 and 2008 domestic student commencements fell by 2.1% from 15,002 to 14,680 while overseas student commencements increased by 3.8% from 8,278 to 8,591. Domestic commencements in doctoral programs fell (-3.9%), increased in research masters programs (14.5%), increased in coursework masters programs (9.4%), increased in other postgraduate programs (9.9%) and increased in bachelors programs (2.2%) but fell sharply in associate degree and diploma programs (-69.0%) and in other undergraduate courses (56.3%). Nearly all the domestic increase in bachelors degrees were men. Women commencements in bachelors degrees were at their highest in 2001 (1,638) but fell to 1,257 by 2005. Since then numbers have steadily recovered but 2008 commencements (1,597) were still below the 2001 figure. Domestic men commencements in bachelors degrees had fallen to 8,574 in 2004 and have grown steadily to 9,697 in 2008, but the increase between 2007 and 2008 was the first substantive increase above the 9,432 commencements recorded in 1997. Over 81% of overseas student commencements were in coursework masters and bachelors degrees, repeating the pattern of previous years. The number of commencements in coursework masters degrees increased marginally from 2,528 to 2,552. However, there was a sharp fall in overseas student commencements in bachelors degrees from 4,289 in 2007 to 2,552 in 2008. This was the lowest figure this decade by a significant margin. In contrast to previous years doctorate degree commencements increased sharply from 431 in 2007 to 573 in 2008. There are now more overseas doctorate commencements than domestic. Overseas female commencements continued to increase strongly.
15
Most course levels are self explanatory but some are not. Other post-graduate programs include preparatory courses for higher awards, post-graduate certificates and post-graduate diplomas. Associate Degrees and AQF Diplomas include associate degrees, advanced AQF Diplomas and AQF Diplomas. Other under-graduate includes enabling courses and various under-graduate certificates.

TABLE 2.3 STUDENTS COMMENCING AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITY ENGINEERING AND RELATED TECHNOLOGIES COURSES, BY DOMICILE DOMESTIC STUDENTS LEVEL DOCTORAL RESEARCH MASTERS COURSEWORK MASTERS OTHER POSTGRADUATE BACHELORS ASSOCIATE DEGREE & DIP's OTHER UNDERGRADUATE TOTAL
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 534 614 615 687 550 486 519 324 366 322 347 292 257 234 798 1007 1007 964 876 943 1031 1093 998 1106 1017 1092 1039 955 10786 10278 10089 9910 9920 10288 11051 252 335 295 294 420 439 694 237 573 599 523 430 480 518 14024 14171 14033 13742 13580 13932 15002
2008 499 268 1128 1050 11294 215 226 14680
OVERSEAS STUDENTS DOCTORAL 237 RESEARCH MASTERS 121 COURSEWORK MASTERS 1305 OTHER POSTGRADUATE 221 BACHELORS 3374 ASSOCIATE DEGREE & DIP's 17 OTHER UNDERGRADUATE 5 TOTAL 5280
226 140 1745 257 3859 77 10 6314
257 158 2850 148 4280 27 63 7783
264 203 2787 162 3936 42 42 7436
272 177 2579 294 3778 149 51 7300
361 178 2295 322 3854 164 73 7247
431 198 2528 303 4289 476 53 8278
573 179 2552 306 4463 455 63 8591
ALL STUDENTS DOCTORAL 771 840 872 951 822 847 950 RESEARCH MASTERS 445 506 480 550 469 435 432 COURSEWORK MASTERS 2103 2752 3857 3751 3455 3238 3559 OTHER POSTGRADUATE 1314 1255 1254 1179 1386 1361 1258 BACHELORS 14160 14137 14369 13846 13698 14142 15340 ASSOCIATE DEGREE & DIP's 269 412 322 336 569 603 1170 OTHER UNDERGRADUATE 242 583 662 565 481 553 571 TOTAL 19304 20485 21816 21178 20880 21179 23280 Source: Data provided by DEEWR
TABLE 2.4 STUDENTS COMMENCING AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITY ENGINEERING AND RELATED TECHNOLOGIES COURSES, BY GENDER MEN LEVEL DOCTORAL RESEARCH MASTERS COURSEWORK MASTERS OTHER POSTGRADUATE BACHELORS ASSOCIATE DEGREE & DIP's OTHER UNDERGRADUATE TOTAL WOMEN DOCTORAL RESEARCH MASTERS COURSEWORK MASTERS OTHER POSTGRADUATE BACHELORS ASSOCIATE DEGREE & DIP's OTHER UNDERGRADUATE TOTAL 175 76 368 214 2194 15 32 3074 182 97 461 213 2139 55 55 3202 173 101 574 179 2138 21 69 3255 201 108 612 195 1989 11 35 3151 163 100 586 226 1926 87 74 3162 197 89 539 251 2045 113 96 3330 196 109 605 208 2357 145 116 3736 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 596 658 699 750 659 650 754 369 409 379 442 369 346 323 1735 2291 3283 3139 2869 2699 2954 1100 1042 1075 984 1160 1110 1050 11966 11998 12231 11857 11772 12097 12983 254 357 301 325 482 490 1025 210 528 593 530 407 457 455 16230 17283 18561 18027 17718 17849 19544
1072 447 3680 1356 15757 670 289 23271
2008 792 274 3000 1090 13376 532 187 19251
280 173 680 266 2381 138 102 4020
ALL STUDENTS DOCTORAL 771 840 872 951 822 847 950 RESEARCH MASTERS 445 506 480 550 469 435 432 COURSEWORK MASTERS 2103 2752 3857 3751 3455 3238 3559 OTHER POSTGRADUATE 1314 1255 1254 1179 1386 1361 1258 BACHELORS 14160 14137 14369 13846 13698 14142 15340 ASSOCIATE DEGREE & DIP's 269 412 322 336 569 603 1170 OTHER UNDERGRADUATE 242 583 662 565 481 553 571 TOTAL 19304 20485 21816 21178 20880 21179 23280 Source: Data provided by DEEWR
1072 447 3680 1356 15757 670 289 23271
10

TABLE 2.5 DOMESTIC STUDENTS COMMENCING AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITY ENGINEERING AND RELATED TECHNOLOGIES COURSES MEN LEVEL 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 DOCTORAL 406 472 492 537 437 378 418 380 RESEARCH MASTERS 272 292 246 269 232 211 179 143 COURSEWORK MASTERS 646 849 840 795 727 759 853 916 OTHER POSTGRADUATE 906 823 947 850 901 841 799 836 BACHELORS 9148 8792 8667 8574 8663 8913 9460 9697 ASSOCIATE DEGREE & DIP's 238 299 275 285 378 395 614 133 OTHER UNDERGRADUATE 208 519 547 496 366 394 421 137 TOTAL 11824 12046 12014 11806 11704 11891 12744 12242 WOMEN DOCTORAL 128 RESEARCH MASTERS 52 COURSEWORK MASTERS 152 OTHER POSTGRADUATE 187 BACHELORS 1638 ASSOCIATE DEGREE & DIP's 14 OTHER UNDERGRADUATE 29 TOTAL 2200 142 74 158 175 1486 36 54 2125 123 76 167 159 1422 20 52 2019 150 78 169 167 1336 9 27 1936 113 60 149 191 1257 42 64 1876 108 46 184 198 1375 44 86 2041 101 55 178 156 1591 80 97 2258 119 125 212 214 1597 82 89 2438
ALL DOMESTIC STUDENTS DOCTORAL 534 614 615 687 550 486 519 RESEARCH MASTERS 324 366 322 347 292 257 234 COURSEWORK MASTERS 798 1007 1007 964 876 943 1031 OTHER POSTGRADUATE 1093 998 1106 1017 1092 1039 955 BACHELORS 10786 10278 10089 9910 9920 10288 11051 ASSOCIATE DEGREE & DIP's 252 335 295 294 420 439 694 OTHER UNDERGRADUATE 237 573 599 523 430 480 518 TOTAL DOMESTIC STUDENTS 14024 14171 14033 13742 13580 13932 15002 Source: Data provided by DEEWR TABLE 2.6 OVERSEAS STUDENTS COMMENCING AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITY ENGINEERING AND RELATED TECHNOLOGIES COURSES
499 268 1128 1050 11294 215 226 14680
MEN LEVEL DOCTORAL RESEARCH MASTERS COURSEWORK MASTERS OTHER POSTGRADUATE BACHELORS ASSOCIATE DEGREE & DIP's OTHER UNDERGRADUATE TOTAL WOMEN DOCTORAL RESEARCH MASTERS COURSEWORK MASTERS OTHER POSTGRADUATE BACHELORS ASSOCIATE DEGREE & DIP's OTHER UNDERGRADUATE TOTAL 47 24 216 27 556 1 3 874 40 23 303 38 653 19 1 1077 50 25 407 20 716 1 17 1236 51 30 443 28 653 2 8 1215 50 40 437 35 669 45 10 1286 89 43 355 53 670 69 10 1289 95 54 427 52 766 65 19 1478 161 48 468 52 784 56 13 1582 2001 190 97 1089 194 2818 16 2 4406 2002 186 117 1442 219 3206 58 9 5237 2003 207 133 2443 128 3564 26 46 6547 2004 213 173 2344 134 3283 40 34 6221 2005 222 137 2142 259 3109 104 41 6014 2006 272 135 1940 269 3184 95 63 5958 2007 336 144 2101 251 3523 411 34 6800 2008 412 131 2084 254 1597 399 50 4927
ALL OVERSEAS STUDENTS DOCTORAL 237 RESEARCH MASTERS 121 COURSEWORK MASTERS 1305 OTHER POSTGRADUATE 221 BACHELORS 3374 ASSOCIATE DEGREE & DIP's 17 OTHER UNDERGRADUATE 5 TOTAL 5280 Source: Data provided by DEEWR
226 140 1745 257 3859 77 10 6314
257 158 2850 148 4280 27 63 7783
264 203 2787 162 3936 42 42 7436
272 177 2579 294 3778 149 51 7300
361 178 2295 322 3854 164 73 7247
431 198 2528 303 4289 476 53 8278
573 179 2552 306 2381 455 63 6509
11
FIGURE 2.3: THE TREND IN DOMESTIC AND OVERSEAS STUDENT COMMENCEMENTS IN BACHELORS DEGREES
18000
16000
14000
12000
NUMBERS
10000 OVERSEAS 8000 DOMESTIC
6000
4000
2000
0 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Figure 2.3 illustrates the trends in domestic and overseas commencements in bachelors degrees. This clearly shows the fall in domestic commencements to 2004 while overseas commeements kept total commencements relatively steady. From 2005 onwards, both domestic and overseas commencements began to increase and in 2007 and 2008 total commencements recorded successive historical record levels.
FIGURE 2.4: THE GENDER COMPOSITION OF DOMESTIC COMMENCEMENTS IN BACHELORS DEGREES
12000
10000
8000
NUMBER
6000
WOMEN MEN
4000
2000
0 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Figure 2.4 ilustrates the gender composition of domestic commencements in bachelors degrees, the main entry level qualification for the engineering profession. In 2001, the proportion of women was 15.2% but then steadily fell to 12.7% in 2005. The share recovered to 14.4% in 2007, but in the latest year has contracted to 14.1%. Figure 2.5 illustrates the rapid expansion in commencements in coursework masters degrees in engineering. The number of domestic commencements has been relatively steady with some annual movements. Most of the expansion in these courses is due to increasing overseas student numbers. Commencements peaked in 2003 and then fell until 2006. In the
12
THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010 last two years shown, commencements have resumed their earlier growth but overall numbers are still somewhat below their peak.
FIGURE 2.5: THE TREND IN DOMESTIC AND OVERSEAS COURSEWORK MASTERS DEGREE COMMENCEMENTS
4500
4000
3500
3000
NUMBERS
2500 OVERSEAS 2000 DOMESTIC
1500
1000
500
0 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
FIGURE 2.6: THE DISTRIBUTION OF DOMESTIC BACHELORS COMMENCEMENTS IN ENGINEERING AND RELATER TECHNOLOGIES BETWEEN JURISDICTIONS
4000 3500 3000
NUMBER
2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 2001

NSW
2002
VICTORIA
2003
2004
WA SA
2005
TASMANIA
2006
NT ACT
2007
2008
QUEENSLAND
Figure 2.6 illustrates the distribution of bachelors degree commencements between States and Territories. The highest level of commencements was in Victoria in 2001. This level of domestic commencements has yet to be repeated in any jurisdiction. Victorian and New South Wales commencements fell until 2005 and then began to increase. In the case of New South Wales this increase continued to 2008 and this State now has the highest level of domestic commencements. Victorian commencements increased in 2006 and 2007, but fell away in 2008. Queensland commencements were relatively static until 2004 and have increased each year since. Commencements in Western Australia have steadily increased each year. South Australian commencements show no obvious trend. The remaining jurisdictions have quite small commencement levels. Figure 2.7 illustrates the trend in overseas student commencements in engineering courses of all levels. Annual figures show some fluctuations but it is evident that the largest numbers of overseas students are in Victoria, followed by New South Wales. Queensland
13
THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010 commencements grew in the first 3 years shown but have fallen away since. Apart from Victoria, the greatest changes have been in Western and South Australia where commencements have increased significantly and the numbers in both States have exceeded those in Queensland since 2005. The remaining jurisdictions once again have very small numbers.
FIGURE 2.7: THE DISTRIBUTION OF OVERSEAS STUDENTS COMMENCING COURSES IN ENGINEERING AND RELATED TECHNOLOGIES ACROSS JURISDICTIONS
3500 3000 2500
NUMBERS
2000 1500 1000 500 0 2001

NSW
2002
VICTORIA
2003
2004
WA SA
2005
TASMANIA
2006
NT ACT
2007
2008
QUEENSLAND
2.4 Overall Enrolments

This Section looks at statistics on total student numbers in Australias engineering schools. These statistics provide an insight into the overall workload for engineering schools and change in resource requirements to cope with the numbers of students in the education pipeline. Tables 2.7 to 2.10 provide the total enrollment statistics corresponding to the commencement statistics Tables 2.3 to 2.6. In 2008, there were 73,496 students enrolled in engineering courses, an increase of 4,207, or 6.1% over 2007. Numerically, domestic and overseas student enrollments were equal, but proportionally domestic enrolments increased by 4.3% while overseas enrolments increased by 10.4%. Since 2001, overall enrollments increased by 14,910, or 25.4%. About 71% of this increase was from overseas students whose numbers increased by 90.4% compared to 9.2% for domestic students. Enrollments in doctorate degrees increased from 4,340 in 2007 to 4,554 in 2008, an increase of 4.9%. Since 2001 the increase in these students has been 1,309, or 40.3%. Threequarters of this increase came from overseas students. The overall enrolment trend for research masters degrees was static with annual fluctuations. However, this comprised two parts. Domestic enrolments trended downwards and this was largely offset by a rising trend in overseas enrolments. Enrolments in coursework masters degrees more than doubled between 2001 and 2008 from 3,799 to 7,690. There were increase in both domestic and overseas student enrollments but thrre-quarters of the increase came from overseas students. Domestic enrolments increased from 1,773 in 2001 to 2,764 in 2008, an increase of 55.9% and overseas student enrolments increased from 2,900 in 2001 to 4,926 in 2008, an increase of 143.1%.
14

TABLE 2.7 STUDENTS ENROLED IN ENGINEERING & RELATED TECHNOLOGIES COURSES, BY DOMICILE DOMESTIC LEVEL DOCTORAL RESEARCH MASTERS COURSEWORK MASTERS OTHER POSTGRADUATE BACHELORS ASSOCIATE DEGREE & DIP's OTHER UNDERGRADUATE TOTAL OVERSEAS DOCTORAL RESEARCH MASTERS COURSEWORK MASTERS OTHER POSTGRADUATE BACHELORS ASSOCIATE DEGREE & DIP's OTHER UNDERGRADUATE TOTAL 2001 2551 937 1773 1836 38828 684 281 46890 2002 2620 968 2056 1850 38711 726 641 47572 2003 2838 914 2250 2016 38443 687 639 47787 2004 3001 934 2295 2006 37821 687 560 47304 2005 2999 857 2268 2067 37109 737 486 46523 2006 2935 797 2313 2122 37622 891 552 47232 2007 2917 728 2536 2012 39057 1411 460 49121 2008 2847 622 2764 2122 40690 1899 281 51225
694 235 2026 321 8382 32 6 11696
754 260 2650 385 9248 99 13 13409
861 281 4334 254 10206 97 71 16104
984 360 4809 242 10761 117 52 17325
1111 401 4912 385 11161 189 60 18219
1264 428 4344 425 11471 281 84 18297
1423 446 4433 391 12541 878 56 20168
1707 420 4926 410 13863 877 68 22271
ALL STUDENTS DOCTORAL 3245 RESEARCH MASTERS 1172 COURSEWORK MASTERS 3799 OTHER POSTGRADUATE 2157 BACHELORS 47210 ASSOCIATE DEGREE & DIP's 716 OTHER UNDERGRADUATE 287 TOTAL 58586 Source: Data provided by DEEWR
3374 1228 4706 2235 47959 825 654 60981
3699 1195 6584 2270 48649 784 710 63891
3985 1294 7104 2248 48582 804 612 64629
4110 1258 7180 2452 48270 926 546 64742
4199 1225 6657 2547 49093 1172 636 65529
4340 1174 6969 2403 51598 2289 516 69289
4554 1042 7690 2532 54553 2776 349 73496
TABLE 2.8 STUDENTS ENROLED IN ENGINEERING & RELATED TECHNOLOGIES COURSES, BY GENDER MEN LEVEL DOCTORAL RESEARCH MASTERS COURSEWORK MASTERS OTHER POSTGRADUATE BACHELORS ASSOCIATE DEGREE & DIP's OTHER UNDERGRADUATE TOTAL WOMEN DOCTORAL RESEARCH MASTERS COURSEWORK MASTERS OTHER POSTGRADUATE BACHELORS ASSOCIATE DEGREE & DIP's OTHER UNDERGRADUATE TOTAL 696 197 693 370 7290 12 38 9296 699 205 800 399 7521 41 62 9727 756 222 1036 369 7593 60 78 10114 829 241 1148 378 7441 41 44 10122 845 265 1191 408 7176 69 84 10038 884 252 1111 471 7194 133 114 10159 940 254 1150 437 7582 322 31 10716 1062 242 1366 472 8023 329 123 11617 2001 2549 975 3106 1787 39920 704 249 49290 2002 2675 1023 3906 1836 40438 784 592 51254 2003 2943 973 5548 1901 41056 724 632 53777 2004 3156 1053 5956 1870 41141 763 568 54507 2005 3265 993 5989 2044 41094 857 462 54704 2006 3315 973 5546 2076 41899 1039 522 55370 2007 3400 920 5819 1966 44016 1967 485 58573 2008 3492 800 6324 2060 46530 2447 226 61879
3374 1228 4706 2235 47959 825 654 60981
3699 1195 6584 2270 48649 784 710 63891
3985 1294 7104 2248 48582 804 612 64629
4110 1258 7180 2452 48270 926 546 64742
4199 1225 6657 2547 49093 1172 636 65529
4340 1174 6969 2403 51598 2289 516 69289
4554 1042 7690 2532 54553 2776 349 73496
15

TABLE 2.9 DOMESTIC STUDENTS ENROLED IN ENGINEERING & RELATED TECHNOLOGIES COURSES MEN LEVEL DOCTORAL RESEARCH MASTERS COURSEWORK MASTERS OTHER POSTGRADUATE BACHELORS ASSOCIATE DEGREE & DIP's OTHER UNDERGRADUATE TOTAL WOMEN DOCTORAL RESEARCH MASTERS COURSEWORK MASTERS OTHER POSTGRADUATE BACHELORS ASSOCIATE DEGREE & DIP's OTHER UNDERGRADUATE TOTAL 562 159 314 327 5896 10 34 7302 562 158 343 346 5839 21 61 7330 599 173 376 334 5674 26 60 7242 636 187 390 344 5416 7 34 7014 635 184 388 358 5115 17 72 6769 621 162 429 405 5069 19 102 6807 630 142 460 378 5298 150 11 7069 639 131 505 407 5574 212 109 7577 2001 1989 778 1459 1509 32932 674 247 39588 2002 2058 810 1713 1504 32872 705 580 40242 2003 2239 741 1874 1682 32769 661 579 40545 2004 2365 747 1905 1662 32405 680 526 40290 2005 2364 673 1880 1709 31994 720 414 39754 2006 2314 635 1884 1717 32553 872 450 40425 2007 2287 586 2076 1634 33759 1261 449 42052 2008 2208 491 2259 1715 35116 1687 172 43648
ALL DOMESTIC STUDENTS DOCTORAL 2551 RESEARCH MASTERS 937 COURSEWORK MASTERS 1773 OTHER POSTGRADUATE 1836 BACHELORS 38828 ASSOCIATE DEGREE & DIP's 684 OTHER UNDERGRADUATE 281 TOTAL 46890 Source: Data provided by DEEWR
2620 968 2056 1850 38711 726 641 47572
2838 914 2250 2016 38443 687 639 47787
3001 934 2295 2006 37821 687 560 47304
2999 857 2268 2067 37109 737 486 46523
2935 797 2313 2122 37622 891 552 47232
2917 728 2536 2012 39057 1411 460 49121
2847 622 2764 2122 40690 1899 281 51225
TABLE 2.10 OVERSEAS STUDENTS ENROLED IN ENGINEERING & RELATED TECHNOLOGIES COURSES MEN LEVEL DOCTORAL RESEARCH MASTERS COURSEWORK MASTERS OTHER POSTGRADUATE BACHELORS ASSOCIATE DEGREE & DIP's OTHER UNDERGRADUATE TOTAL WOMEN DOCTORAL RESEARCH MASTERS COURSEWORK MASTERS OTHER POSTGRADUATE BACHELORS ASSOCIATE DEGREE & DIP's OTHER UNDERGRADUATE TOTAL 134 38 379 43 1394 2 4 1994 137 47 457 53 1682 20 1 2397 157 49 660 35 1919 34 18 2872 193 54 758 34 2025 34 10 3108 210 81 803 50 2061 52 12 3269 263 90 682 66 2125 114 12 3352 310 112 690 59 2284 172 20 3647 423 111 861 65 2449 117 14 4040 2001 560 197 1647 278 6988 30 2 9702 2002 617 213 2193 332 7566 79 12 11012 2003 704 232 3674 219 8287 63 53 13232 2004 791 306 4051 208 8736 83 42 14217 2005 901 320 4109 335 9100 137 48 14950 2006 1001 338 3662 359 9346 167 72 14945 2007 1113 334 3743 332 10257 706 36 16521 2008 1284 309 4065 345 11414 760 54 18231
754 260 2650 385 9248 99 13 13409
861 281 4334 254 10206 97 71 16104
984 360 4809 242 10761 117 52 17325
1111 401 4912 385 11161 189 60 18219
1264 428 4344 425 11471 281 84 18297
1423 446 4433 391 12541 878 56 20168
1707 420 4926 410 13863 877 68 22271
16
THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010 Enrolments in bachelors degrees increased from 47,210 in 2001 to 54,553 in 2008, an increase of 7,343, or 15.6%. Domestic enrollments in bachelors degrees increased by 1,862 over this period, but this change was in two parts. From 2001 to 2006 domestic enrolments fell by 1,206 to 37,622. By 2008 domestic enrolments had increased by 3,068 to produce a smaller net change over the full period. Overseas student enrolments in bachelors degrees increased steadily each year from 8,382 in 2001 to 13,863 in 2008, an increase of 65.4%. In 2008, overseas students accounted for a quarter of all enrolments in bachelors degrees. Enrolments in associate degrees and diploma courses almost trebled between 2001 and 2008 from 716 to 2,776. There were strong increases in both domestic and overseas students. In 2001 684 domestic students were enrolled in these courses. Until 2005 numbers fluctuated annually but no discernible trend emerged. Since then numbers have increased strongly to 1,899 in 2008. In 2001, only 32 overseas students were enroled in associate degrees and diploma courses. Numbers increased most years, plateauing out at about 877 in the last two years. Proportionally, overall enrolments of men and women increased by about one quarter. Enrolment of domestic women increased from 7,302 in 2001 to 7,577 in 2008, an increase of 275, or 3.8%. Enrolment of domestic women fell steadily to 6,769 in 2005 before recovering in subsequent years. This pattern was repeated in enrolments in bachelors degrees. In 2001, these were 5,896 but fell to 5,069 in 2006 to then rise to 5,574 in 2008. Enrolment of overseas women increased strongly from 1,994 in 2001 to 4,040 in 2008. The increase of 2,046 accounted for over 88% of the increase in the enrolment of women in engineering courses. In contrast to domestic women, overseas women increased enrolments in bachelors degree each year and by 2008 accounted for 44% of women enrolled in this key entry level degree.
2.6. Completions
This Section looks at completions of engineering and related technologies courses. Tables 2.11 to 2.14 use the same format to present the final element of the education pipeline. In 2008, 13,801 engineering and related technologies courses were completed, an increase of 799, or 6.1% over 2007. Since 2001, completions have increased by 28.9%. Postgraduate courses accounted for one third of 2008 completions. Completion of doctorates increased from 421 in 2001 to 697 in 2008, an increase of almost two-thirds. Both domestic and overseas completions increased, with growth in the latter particularly strong. Research masters degree completions were static other than annual fluctuations with much more variability among overseas completions than domestic completions. A key area of growth has been completions of coursework masters degrees. In 2001, there were 1,552 completions, increasing by 1,325 by 2008, an increase of over 85%. Most of this increase came from overseas completions. Domestic completions showed no clear trend, but overseas completions increased from 916 in 2001 to 2188 in 2008 to account for over 38% of that years overseas course completions. Post graduate course completions were 22.7% of domestic course completions in 2008 compared to 47.7% for overseas students. Course completions for women increased between 2001 and 2008, but nearly all the increase was among overseas women. Course completions for domestic women were static with fluctuations in the range 1,260 to 1,290 and a single peak of 1,307 in 2003. Domestic women completed an increasing number of doctorates and other higher degrees, but the numbers of bachelors degree completions have fallen. In 2008, the proportion of overseas women completions was a third higher than the proportion of domestic women completions.
17

TABLE 2.11 STUDENTS COMPLETING AWARDS IN ENGINEERING & RELATED TECHNOLOGIES FROM AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITIES, BY DOMICILE DOMESTIC LEVEL DOCTORAL RESEARCH MASTERS COURSEWORK MASTERS OTHER POSTGRADUATE BACHELORS ASSOCIATE DEGREE & DIP's OTHER UNDERGRADUATE TOTAL OVERSEAS DOCTORAL RESEARCH MASTERS COURSEWORK MASTERS OTHER POSTGRADUATE BACHELORS ASSOCIATE DEGREE & DIP's OTHER UNDERGRADUATE TOTAL 2001 324 147 636 404 6061 167 112 7851 2002 382 147 624 331 5721 186 292 7683 2003 422 148 663 403 5831 156 212 7835 2004 423 150 645 408 5980 124 444 8174 2005 453 133 635 362 5680 141 173 7577 2006 488 139 576 410 6026 124 221 7984 2007 520 131 686 447 5793 208 160 7945 2008 513 124 689 517 6046 236 0 8125
97 60 916 106 1658 17 1 2855
99 41 1071 150 1748 36 5 3150
109 46 1716 144 1997 35 52 4099
151 73 1932 117 2220 58 12 4563
185 75 2299 192 2396 49 18 5214
208 126 1830 237 2343 95 33 4872
251 96 1900 210 2290 301 9 5057
184 97 2188 238 2582 371 16 5676
481 188 1695 481 7469 222 297 10833
531 194 2379 547 7828 191 264 11934
574 223 2577 525 8200 182 456 12737
638 208 2934 554 8076 190 191 12791
696 265 2406 647 8369 219 254 12856
771 697 227 221 2586 2877 657 755 8083 8628 509 607 169 16 13002 13801
TABLE 2.12 STUDENTS COMPLETING AWARDS IN ENGINEERING & RELATED TECHNOLOGIES FROM AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITIES, BY GENDER MEN LEVEL DOCTORAL RESEARCH MASTERS COURSEWORK MASTERS OTHER POSTGRADUATE BACHELORS ASSOCIATE DEGREE & DIP's OTHER UNDERGRADUATE TOTAL WOMEN DOCTORAL RESEARCH MASTERS COURSEWORK MASTERS OTHER POSTGRADUATE BACHELORS ASSOCIATE DEGREE & DIP's OTHER UNDERGRADUATE TOTAL 82 43 305 80 1312 5 4 1831 80 38 314 78 1292 10 14 1826 112 39 387 97 1363 25 17 2040 112 39 439 98 1401 34 3 2126 127 47 504 102 1386 14 10 2190 133 56 380 93 1403 49 8 2122 154 52 431 131 1309 109 5 2191 156 46 528 152 1434 111 5 2432 2001 339 164 1247 430 6407 179 109 8875 2002 401 150 1381 403 6177 212 283 9007 2003 419 155 1992 450 6465 166 247 9894 2004 462 184 2138 427 6799 148 453 10611 2005 511 161 2430 452 6690 176 181 10601 2006 563 209 2026 554 6966 170 246 10734 2007 2008 617 541 175 175 2155 2349 526 603 6774 7194 400 496 164 11 10811 11369
481 188 1695 481 7469 222 297 10833
531 194 2379 547 7828 191 264 11934
574 223 2577 525 8200 182 456 12737
638 208 2934 554 8076 190 191 12791
696 265 2406 647 8369 219 254 12856
771 697 227 221 2586 2877 657 755 8083 8628 509 607 169 16 13002 13801
18

TABLE 2.13 DOMESTIC STUDENTS COMPLETING AWARDS IN ENGINEERING & RELATED TECHNOLOGIES FROM AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITIES MEN LEVEL 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 DOCTORAL 261 317 333 335 357 390 RESEARCH MASTERS 119 114 120 125 102 105 COURSEWORK MASTERS 529 511 551 538 521 487 OTHER POSTGRADUATE 339 275 330 326 297 348 BACHELORS 5034 4753 4847 5005 4732 5062 ASSOCIATE DEGREE & DIP's 162 176 141 115 134 118 OTHER UNDERGRADUATE 108 279 206 443 168 218 TOTAL 6552 6425 6528 6887 6311 6728 WOMEN DOCTORAL RESEARCH MASTERS COURSEWORK MASTERS OTHER POSTGRADUATE BACHELORS ASSOCIATE DEGREE & DIP's OTHER UNDERGRADUATE TOTAL 63 28 107 65 1027 5 4 1299 65 33 113 56 968 10 13 1258 89 28 112 73 984 15 6 1307 88 25 107 82 975 9 1 1287 96 31 114 65 948 7 5 1266 98 34 89 62 964 6 3 1256 110 31 138 100 855 27 4 1265 124 21 125 105 888 30 0 1293
2007 410 100 548 347 4938 181 156 6680
2008 389 103 564 412 5158 206 0 6832
ALL DOMESTIC STUDENTS DOCTORAL 324 RESEARCH MASTERS 147 COURSEWORK MASTERS 636 OTHER POSTGRADUATE 404 BACHELORS 6061 ASSOCIATE DEGREE & DIP's 167 OTHER UNDERGRADUATE 112 TOTAL 7851 Source: Data provided by DEEWR
382 147 624 331 5721 186 292 7683
422 148 663 403 5831 156 212 7835
423 150 645 408 5980 124 444 8174
453 133 635 362 5680 141 173 7577
488 139 576 410 6026 124 221 7984
520 131 686 447 5793 208 160 7945
513 124 689 517 6046 236 0 8125
TABLE 2.14 OVERSEAS STUDENTS COMPLETING AWARDS IN ENGINEERING & RELATED TECHNOLOGIES FROM AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITIES MEN LEVEL DOCTORAL RESEARCH MASTERS COURSEWORK MASTERS OTHER POSTGRADUATE BACHELORS ASSOCIATE DEGREE & DIP's OTHER UNDERGRADUATE TOTAL WOMEN DOCTORAL RESEARCH MASTERS COURSEWORK MASTERS OTHER POSTGRADUATE BACHELORS ASSOCIATE DEGREE & DIP's OTHER UNDERGRADUATE TOTAL 19 15 198 15 285 0 0 532 15 5 201 22 324 0 1 568 23 11 275 24 379 10 11 733 24 14 332 16 426 25 2 839 31 16 390 37 438 7 5 924 35 22 291 31 439 43 5 866 44 21 293 31 454 82 1 926 32 25 403 47 546 81 5 1139 2001 78 45 718 91 1373 17 1 2323 2002 84 36 870 128 1424 36 4 2582 2003 86 35 1441 120 1618 25 41 3366 2004 127 59 1600 101 1794 33 10 3724 2005 154 59 1909 155 1958 42 13 4290 2006 173 104 1539 206 1904 52 28 4006 2007 207 75 1607 179 1836 219 8 4131 2008 152 72 1785 191 2036 290 11 4537
99 41 1071 150 1748 36 5 3150
109 46 1716 144 1997 35 52 4099
151 73 1932 117 2220 58 12 4563
185 75 2299 192 2396 49 18 5214
208 126 1830 237 2343 95 33 4872
251 96 1900 210 2290 301 9 5057
184 97 2188 238 2582 371 16 5676
19
THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010 The key source of growth for new entrants to the engineering profession in Australia is domestic completions of bachelors degrees and associate degrees and diplomas in engineering. In 2001, bachelors completions were 6,061. This figure trended down in an irregular fashion to 5,680 in 2005 before increasing to 6,046 in 2008. The numbers of associate degree and diploma completions is much smaller and showed a similar pattern. Chapter 3 examines these figures in greater detail, looking at course duration and area of specialisation.
2.6 Engineering Completions Compared to Other Disciplines

This Section considers a limited comparison between completions of engineering and related technologies bachelors and coursework masters degrees to corresponding completions in other disciplines. The intention is to provide some insight into the scale of engineering education in the overall context of university education. Figure 2.8 shows the trends in the proportions of engineering completions for the levels of education covered in the Tables above. Figure 2.9 shows the corresponding trends for overseas student completions. The trend in the proportion of engineering and related technologies completions in all university completions (black line) has been downwards, falling from 5.5% in 1996 to 4.8% in 2007 and 2008. The trend for bachelors degree completions (red line) lies above the trend line for overall completions, but followed a similar trend, falling from 6.1% in 1996 to 5.4% in 2007 before increasing to 5.8% in 2008.
FIGURE 2.8: DOMESTIC ENGINEERING AND RELATED TECHNOLOGIES COURSE COMPLETIONS AS SHARES OF CORRESPONDING COMPLETIONS IN ALL DISCIPLINES
14.0 12.0 10.0 8.0
%
6.0 4.0 2.0 0.0 2001
DOCTORATES OTHER POSTGRADUATE ALL QUALIFICATIONS
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
MASTERS BY RESEARCH BACHELORS
MASTERS BY COURSEWORK ASSOCIATE DEGREE & DIPLOMA
The proportion of engineering doctoral (dark blue line) and research masters (light blue line) degree completions were twice as high as for bachelors degrees, suggesting a strong attraction to research higher degrees among domestic engineers. In contrast, domestic engineers are much less attracted to coursework masters programs (light green line) where the trend line lies substantially below the overall completions and bachelors completions trends. While overseas student completions figure strongly in the Tables discussed above, Figure 2.9 shows that when taken in the context of university education generally, the issue does not assume quite the same proportion. Domestic engineering completions in 2008 were 4.8%
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THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010 and overseas completions were higher at 6.4%, but the scale of this difference is not great when considered this way. Much the same pattern prevails for the trends in coursework masters and bachelors degree completions where the trend lines are almost superimposed on the trend in overall overseas completions. In other words, there are slightly more overseas completions than domestic completions and the trend lines in both cases have been falling suggesting that engineering completions are not as strong as in the past.
FIGURE 2.9: ENGINEERING AND RELATED TECHNOLOGIES COMPLETIONS BY OVERSEAS STUDENTS AS A SHARE OF ALL OVERSEAS COMPLETIONS
40.0 35.0 30.0 25.0 20.0 15.0 10.0 5.0 0.0 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
DOCTORATES BACHELORS MASTERS BY RESEARCH ALL QUALIFICATIONS MASTERS BY COURSEWORK
The trend lines for overseas completions of doctorates and research masters degrees are particularly interesting. The trend for doctorates has been falling irregularly over time and in 2008 was 13.0% down from 21.0% in 1996. However, in 2008 domestic doctoral completions were very similar to 1996 at around 11%. Domestic research masters completions fluctuated about 12% but the proportion of engineering research masters degrees in overall overseas completions has increased. In 1996 it was 21.6% and by 2008 it had plateaued out at 30.2%.
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3.
NEW ENTRY LEVEL ENGINEERS
3.1 The Engineering Profession in Australia

This Chapter looks more closely at the domestic entry level completions discussed in Tables 2.11 to 2.14, together with corresponding statistics from Tertiary and Further Education (TAFE) Colleges, to establish the potential flow of qualified engineers to the engineering profession. The focus is on entry level qualifications because this is what determines the minimum engineering competencies offered by an individual. Post-graduate qualifications add to the competencies of existing engineers. Only domestic completions are considered because these graduates have the capacity to directly join the Australian labour market. Overseas graduates have the potential to do so but must first successfully obtain the necessary immigration visa. The way that the engineering profession is organised was described in some detail in section 1.3. The educational qualifications required for entry into the three levels of the profession are the focus for this chapter. To reiterate they are: Engineering Associate; two year (full time equivalent) engineering qualification (Associate Degrees, AQF Diplomas and Advanced Diplomas) Engineering Technologist; three year (full time equivalent) university degree in engineering Professional Engineer; four year (full time equivalent) university degree in engineering
DEEWR, using a different statistics file, are able to provide disaggregations of the bachelors degree completions shown in Tables 2.11 to 2.14 into bachelors degrees of three years, four years, greater than four years full time equivalent duration. In somes cases, DEEWR were unable to establish course duration from statistical returns submitted by universities. There were two examples of this problem, one in 1996 and another in 2005. Bachelors degrees with duration greater than four years are typically double degrees based on a four year engineering degree. No information on the second field of education is available, but, anecdotally, the most common ones are thought to be science, mathematics, economics/finance and law. There are some small discrepencies between the statistics in this chapter and chapter 2 due to the different data file used and to some miscoding where engineering double degrees were allocated to the secondary field rather than engineering. Graduations in different engineering specialisations is highlighted. In principle, the more disaggregated the statistics the better the focus on specialisation. However, a quirk of the statistics is that the university returns to DEEWR use general categories so excessively that at the most disaggregated level understanding trends becomes impossible. Instead, disaggregation is limited to 4-digit level to optimise the situation. Statistics on TAFE completions were obtained from the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER). These statistics were arranged in the same way as the university statistics. However, because these statistics are from a completely different collection, different statistical protocols apply. University and TAFE graduation statistics are combined, despite these problems, to establish time series for graduates capable of joining the engineering profession. Many do, but some travel overseas, others undertake post-graduate studies and some react to labour market incentives and accept positions in non-engineering occupations.
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3.2 Three Year Degrees in Engineering

Table 3.1 shows the numbers graduating from three year (full time equivalent) bachelors degrees in engineering from 2001 to 2008. These graduates have the competencies to become Engineering Technologists.
TABLE 3.1 DOMESTIC STUDENTS COMPLETING THREE YEAR BACHELORS DEGREES IN ENGINEERING, BY ENGINEERING DISCIPLINE MEN ASCED 0300 0301 0303 0305 0307 0309 0313 0315 0317 0399 0311
SPECIALISATION Engineering & Related Technologies Manufacturing Engineering & Technology Process & Resource Engineering Automotive Engineering & Technology Mechanical & Industrial Engineering & Technology Civil Engineering Electrical & Electronic Engineering & Technology Aerospace Engineering & Technology Martime Engineering & Technology Other Engineering & Technology TOTAL Geomatic Engineering TOTAL INCLUDING GEOMATIC ENGINEERING
2001 66 18 43 0 34 14 124 79 2 109 489 42 531
2002 59 14 27 0 49 13 106 102 3 102 475 65 540
2003 64 3 32 0 30 7 102 111 4 96 449 75 524
2004 62 3 18 0 21 19 110 110 2 96 441 48 489
2005 56 5 42 0 29 40 159 154 6 92 583 23 606
2006 59 4 64 0 34 39 203 175 1 100 679 22 701
2007 44 4 16 0 8 28 127 138 2 108 475 16 491
2008 53 0 20 0 17 17 108 165 1 91 472 17 489
WOMEN 0300 Engineering & Related Technologies 0301 Manufacturing Engineering & Technology 0303 Process & Resource Engineering 0305 Automotive Engineering & Technology 0307 Mechanical & Industrial Engineering & Technology 0309 Civil Engineering 0313 Electrical & Electronic Engineering & Technology 0315 Aerospace Engineering & Technology 0317 Maritime Engineering & Technology 0399 Other Engineering & Technology TOTAL 0311 Geomatic Engineering TOTAL INCLUDING GEOMATIC ENGINEERING ALL DOMESTIC STUDENTS 0300 Engineering & Related Technologies 0301 Manufacturing Engineering & Technology 0303 Process & Resource Engineering 0305 Automotive Engineering & Technology 0307 Mechanical & Industrial Engineering & Technology 0309 Civil Engineering 0313 Electrical & Electronic Engineering & Technology 0315 Aerospace Engineering & Technology 0317 Maritime Engineering & Technology 0399 Other Engineering & Technology TOTAL 0311 Geomatic Engineering TOTAL INCLUDING GEOMATIC ENGINEERING Source: Data supplied by DEEWR
18 2 18 0 3 0 12 14 1 20 88 10 98
4 3 20 0 3 2 9 22 1 13 77 24 101
12 5 17 0 2 4 6 19 0 10 75 16 91
7 4 15 0 1 0 18 23 0 8 76 17 93
13 13 17 0 1 3 56 22 1 7 133 10 143
3 10 21 0 2 11 41 29 0 14 131 14 145
7 8 12 0 1 1 34 31 0 5 99 9 108
1 23 8 0 12 11 24 39 0 9 127 11 138
84 20 61 0 37 14 136 93 3 129 577 52 629
63 17 47 0 52 15 115 124 4 115 552 89 641
76 8 49 0 32 11 108 130 4 106 524 91 615
69 7 33 0 22 19 128 133 2 104 517 65 582
69 18 59 0 30 43 215 176 7 99 716 33 749
62 14 85 0 36 50 244 204 1 114 810 36 846
51 12 28 0 9 29 161 169 2 113 574 25 599
54 23 28 0 29 28 132 204 1 100 599 28 627
In 2008, there were 599 graduates from three year bachelors degrees in engineering, an increase of 25, or 4.4% over 2007. With the exception of two years (2005, 716 and 2006, 810) graduate numbers have been in the mid 500s. In 2008, 21.2% of graduates were women. The three largest areas of specialisation were: Aerospace Engineering and Technology with 204 (34.1%) graduates in 2008. This specialisation has experienced strong growth since 2001. Electrical and Electronic Engineering and Technology with 132 (22.0%) graduates in 2008. This level of graduates is much lower than the figures recorded in
23
THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010 2005 (215) and 2006 (244). These results largely explain the high numbers of three year graduates in those years. Other Engineering and Technology with 100 (16.7%) graduates in 2008. This group includes Environmental and Biomedical engineers as well as a catch-all remainder category.
There are comparatively small numbers of graduates in several important engineering specialisations. There were 28 Process and Resource Engineering graduates. This group includes chemical engineers, materials engineers and mining engineers. There were 29 Mechanical and Industrial Engineering and Technology graduates. As well as mechanical engineers, this group includes production engineers and industrial engineers. Finally, there were 28 Civil Engineering graduates. In 2008 there were 28 surveying graduates. Surveyers are included in Engineering and Related Technology and overstate the number of engineers in Tables 2.11 to 2.14.
3.3 Four Year Degrees in Engineering

Table 3.2 shows the numbers of four year (full time equivalent) bachelors degree graduates in engineering from 2001 to 2008. These graduates have the competencies to become Professional Engineers. In 2008, there were 3,986 graduates from four year bachelors degrees, an increase of 237, or 6.3% over 2007. To put these figures into context, there were almost as many (3,951) graduates in 2001. Numbers fell steadily to a minimum of 3,246 in 2005 before rising to the present level. Women graduate numbers have steadily fallen since 2001. In that year, 669, or 16.9% of graduates were women. In 2008, there were 494 women graduates, almost identical to the previous year, but their share had fallen by one quarter to 12.4%. The largest specialisations are: Civil Engineering, (includes civil engineers, structural engineers, transport engineers and ocean engineers) had 803 graduates in 2008, an increase of 150, or 23.0% over 2007. This group of engineers made up 20.1% of four year graduates in 2008. In 2001, graduate numbers were 725 but fell sharply to record a minimum of 489 in 2005. Since then there have been increases each year. Other Engineering and Technology had 735 graduates in 2008. This group includes environmental engineers (92), biomedical engineers (30) with the remainder in general categories. Graduate numbers increased by 148, or 25.2% over 2007 but numbers similar to 2008 were recorded in 2006 (720) and 2001 (701). Electrical and Electronic Engineering and Technology had 740 graduates in 2008. This was a fall of 140, or 15.9% from the 880 graduates in 2007. This group includes electrical engineers (228), electronic engineers (125), computer engineers (120), communications technologies (33) with the remainder in general categories. In 2001 there were 1,147 graduates in this group. Numbers increased to a peak of 1,291 in 2004 and have fallen each year since. Mechanical and Industrial Engineering and Technology had 660 graduates in 2008, an increase of 46, or 7.5% over 2007. Annual fluctuations have been relatively large but there appears to have been a falling trend during the early years of the period shown resulting in a low point of 482 graduates in 2005. There have been increases each year since. Most graduates were mechanical engineers (622) with a small number of industrial engineers. Process and Resource Engineering had 479 graduates in 2008, an increase of 34, or 7.6% over 2007. There were 542 graduates in 2001 but this fell to a low point of
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THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010 325 in 2005 before increasing to present levels. This group includes chemical engineers (259), mining engineers (104) and materials engineers (41).
TABLE 3.2 DOMESTIC STUDENTS COMPLETING FOUR YEAR BACHELORS DEGREES IN ENGINEERING, BY ENGINEERING DISCIPLINE MEN ASCED 0300 0301 0303 0305 0307 0309 0313 0315 0317 0399 0311
2001 98 13 407 0 503 585 1007 124 11 534 3282 121 3403
2002 134 10 335 0 556 574 992 118 12 472 3203 113 3316
2003 90 16 285 0 528 554 1136 117 2 450 3178 94 3272
2004 59 23 319 3 553 502 1111 151 23 441 3185 117 3302
2005 169 15 237 19 446 420 896 114 11 421 2748 113 2861
2006 246 17 271 20 527 448 796 130 23 582 3060 120 3180
2007 283 21 342 22 571 565 801 165 13 476 3259 128 3387
2008 271 12 372 22 609 703 687 188 16 612 3492 121 3613
9 3 135 0 56 140 140 19 0 167 669 19 688
26 3 137 0 57 122 143 24 0 124 636 20 656
23 5 128 0 66 90 181 23 0 132 648 15 663
11 2 126 0 58 98 180 20 1 111 607 29 636
35 2 88 0 36 69 119 18 0 131 498 18 516
34 3 98 2 32 81 101 16 1 138 506 23 529
42 5 103 1 43 88 79 17 1 111 490 13 503
36 0 107 0 51 100 53 22 2 123 494 22 516
107 16 542 0 559 725 1147 143 11 701 3951 140 4091
160 13 472 0 613 696 1135 142 12 596 3839 133 3972
113 21 413 0 594 644 1317 140 2 582 3826 109 3935
70 25 445 3 611 600 1291 171 24 552 3792 146 3938
204 17 325 19 482 489 1015 132 11 552 3246 131 3377
280 20 369 22 559 529 897 146 24 720 3566 143 3709
325 26 445 23 614 653 880 182 14 587 3749 141 3890
307 12 479 22 660 803 740 210 18 735 3986 143 4129
There were relatively large numbers of aerospace engineers (210) and relatively large numbers of graduates in Engineering and Related Technologies (307), a general engineering category. Automotive engineering (22) and maritime engineering had very small numbers. The pattern of specialisation among women graduates is not noticeably different to that for men. There were 143 surveying graduates in 2008 that were included in the statistics in chapter 2.
3.4 Double Degrees in Engineering

Table 3.3 shows the numbers graduating from bachelors degrees over 4 years in engineering. These degrees are typically double degrees, combining a 4 year degree in
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THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010 engineering with a degree in another field. These graduates have the competencies to become Professional Engineers.
TABLE 3.3 DOMESTIC STUDENTS COMPLETING FOUR YEAR DOUBLE DEGREE PROGRAMS IN ENGINEERING, BY ENGINEERING DISCIPLINE MEN ASCED 0300 0301 0303 0305 0307 0309 0313 0315 0317 0399 0311
2001 136 27 62 0 192 132 387 26 0 116 1078 4 1082
2002 162 28 129 0 122 75 252 14 0 113 895 1 896
2003 261 28 120 0 123 124 269 2 0 119 1046 3 1049
2004 320 40 151 0 115 97 332 26 0 132 1213 2 1215
2005 427 2 77 0 53 70 291 16 0 128 1064 2 1066
2006 372 0 131 0 76 66 325 36 0 186 1192 0 1192
2007 361 13 109 0 82 58 253 15 0 174 1065 2 1067
2008 400 11 126 0 80 84 182 22 0 177 1082 0 1082
30 2 24 0 37 28 56 4 0 57 238 0 238
28 4 55 0 21 23 43 2 0 35 211 0 211
51 3 27 0 18 28 55 1 0 48 231 0 231
49 4 55 0 22 21 61 3 0 35 250 1 251
104 0 26 0 12 23 42 4 0 32 243 1 244
79 0 64 0 16 21 45 8 0 53 286 0 286
72 1 59 0 18 22 21 5 0 49 247 0 247
69 0 50 0 13 19 22 8 0 66 247 0 247
166 29 86 0 229 160 443 30 0 173 1316 4 1320
190 32 184 0 143 98 295 16 0 148 1106 1 1107
312 31 147 0 141 152 324 3 0 167 1277 3 1280
369 44 206 0 137 118 393 29 0 167 1463 3 1466
531 2 103 0 65 93 333 20 0 160 1307 3 1310
451 0 195 0 92 87 370 44 0 239 1478 0 1478
433 14 168 0 100 80 274 20 0 223 1312 2 1314
469 11 176 0 93 103 204 30 0 243 1329 0 1329
In 2008, the two largest group of graduates were in general engineering categories; 469 in Engineering and Related Technologies and 243 in Other Engineering and Technology. In the latter category there were 17 environmental engineers and 10 biomedical engineers. The remaining graduates in these categories are general engineers. Very few surveyors undertake double degree studies and the their inclusion in Engineering and Related Technology makes very little difference for double degrees.
3.5 Unknown Duration

DEEWR statistics show that in 1996 there were 238 bachelors degree in engineering completions where the duration was not provided in statistical returns and in 2005 there were 248 cases. It is believed that the majority of these degrees are 4 year bachelors degrees in
26
THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010 engineering but this cannot be unambiguously verified. For statistical purposes they are included in the 4 year totals covered below.
3.6 Engineering Degree Completions

Table 3.4 consolidates the statistics for completions of Bachelors degrees in engineering shown in Tables 3.1 to 3.3 into a combined overview. In 2008, there were 5,914 completions, 279 or 5.0% more than in 2007. Although the number of completions was the highest on record, it was only 70 more than 2001. While this is encouraging, it is not sufficient to suggest that that the trend is changing from static to increasing.
TABLE 3.4 DOMESTIC STUDENTS COMPLETING BACHELORS DEGREES IN ENGINEERING OF ALL DURATIONS, BY ENGINEERING DISCIPLINES MEN ASCED 0300 0301 0303 0305 0307 0309 0313 0315 0317 0399 0311
2001 300 58 512 0 729 731 1519 229 13 758 4849 167 5016
2002 355 52 491 0 725 662 1350 234 15 687 4571 179 4750
2003 415 47 437 0 681 685 1507 230 6 665 4673 172 4845
2004 441 66 488 3 689 618 1553 287 25 669 4839 167 5006
2005 700 22 362 19 540 553 1425 306 17 655 4599 138 4737
2006 677 21 466 20 637 553 1324 341 24 868 4931 142 5073
2007 688 38 467 22 661 651 1181 318 15 758 4799 146 4945
2008 724 23 518 22 706 804 977 375 17 880 5046 138 5184
WOMEN 0300 Engineering & Related Technologies 0301 Manufacturing Engineering & Technology 0303 Process & Resource Engineering 0305 Automotive Engineering & Technology 0307 Mechanical & Industrial Engineering & Technology 0309 Civil Engineering 0313 Electrical & Electronic Engineering & Technology 0315 Aerospace Engineering & Technology 0317 Maritime Engineering & Technology 0399 Other Engineering & Technology TOTAL 0311 Geomatic Engineering TOTAL INCLUDING GEOMATIC ENGINEERING ALL DOMESTIC STUDENTS 0300 Engineering & Related Technologies 0301 Manufacturing Engineering & Technology 0303 Process & Resource Engineering 0305 Automotive Engineering & Technology 0307 Mechanical & Industrial Engineering & Technology 0309 Civil Engineering 0313 Electrical & Electronic Engineering & Technology 0315 Aerospace Engineering & Technology 0317 Maritime Engineering & Technology 0399 Other Engineering & Technology TOTAL 0311 Geomatic Engineering TOTAL INCLUDING GEOMATIC ENGINEERING Source: Data supplied by DEWR
57 7 177 0 96 168 208 37 1 244 995 29 1024
58 10 212 0 81 147 195 48 1 172 924 44 968
86 13 172 0 86 122 242 43 0 190 954 31 985
67 10 196 0 81 119 259 46 1 154 933 47 980
163 15 132 0 53 103 230 48 1 173 918 29 947
116 13 183 2 49 113 187 53 1 205 922 37 959
121 14 174 1 62 111 134 53 1 165 836 22 858
106 23 165 0 76 130 99 69 2 198 868 33 901
357 65 689 0 825 899 1727 266 14 1002 5844 196 6040
413 62 703 0 806 809 1545 282 16 859 5495 223 5718
501 60 609 0 767 807 1749 273 6 855 5627 203 5830
508 76 684 3 770 737 1812 333 26 823 5772 214 5986
863 37 494 19 593 656 1655 354 18 828 5517 167 5684
793 34 649 22 686 666 1511 394 25 1073 5853 179 6032
809 52 641 23 723 762 1315 371 16 923 5635 168 5803
830 46 683 22 782 934 1076 444 19 1078 5914 171 6085
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FIGURE 3.1: COMPLETIONS OF BACHELORS DEGREES IN ENGINEERING SINCE 2001

7000 MALES 6000 FEMALES
5000
NUMBERS
4000
3000
2000
1000
0 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Figure 3.1 illustrates the trend in Bachelors degree in engineering, highlighting gender differences. The number of female completions was over 900 until 2006 and less since. In the earlier period, the female share varied between 15.8% and 17% but is now down to 14.7%.
FIGURE 3.2: ENGINEERING SPECIALISATIONS AMONG COMPLETIONS OF BACHELORS DEGREES
7000
6000
5000
OTHER MARITIME AEROSPACE ELECTRICAL & ELECTRONIC CIVIL MECHANICAL AUTOMOTIVE PROCESS & RESOURCE MANUFACTURING GENERAL
NUMBERS
4000
3000
2000
1000
0 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Figure 3.2 illustrates the composition of completions of Bachelors degrees in engineering by specialisations. A key change is the fall in the number of electrical and electronic engineering completions from 1,727 in 2001 to 1,076 in 2008. The growth in general engineering from 357 completions in 2001 to 830 in 2008 is also quite conspicuous. Many engineering specialisations that have been the subject of skills shortages discussions (civil, mechanical, process and mining) show static trends with relatively large annual fluctuations. Process and resource engineering, that includes chemical, materials and mining engineers, has had completions in the mid to high 600s except for a low of 494 completions in 2005. Mechanical and industrial engineering completions were highest in 2001 and have been in
28
THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010 the 700s in most years except lows of 593 and 686 in 2005, and 2006 respectively. Civil engineering numbers fell steadily from 899 in 2001 to 656 in 2005 but have now responded to the strong demand for civil engineers.
3.7 Completions of Associate Degrees & Diplomas

The majority of diploma and advanced diploma courses in engineering are taught in the TAFE system, but some courses, including associate degrees and diplomas, are taught by universities. This section combines completions statistics from both sources to consider the trends for the Engineering Associate component of the engineering team.
TABLE 3.5 STUDENTS COMPLETING AQF DIPLOMAS AND ADVANCED DIPLOMAS IN ENGINEERING FROM AUSTRALIAN TAFE COLLEGES, BY ENGINEERING DISCIPLINE MEN ASCED SPECIALISATION 0301 Manufacturing Engineering & Technology 0303 Process & Resource Engineering 0305 Automotive Engineering & Technology 0307 Mechanical & Industrial Engineering & Technology 0309 Civil Engineering 0313 Electrical & Electronic Engineering & Technology 0315 Aerospace Engineering & Technology 0317 Maritime Engineering & Technology 0399 Other Engineering & Technology TOTAL 0311 Geomatic Engineering TOTAL INCLUDING GEOMATIC ENGINEERING
2002 505 55 0 610 135 1110 105 140 205 2865 120 2985
2003 410 85 10 640 130 1220 100 125 130 2850 80 2930
2004 615 105 10 770 170 975 95 60 105 2905 65 2970
2005 520 110 40 513 220 1015 100 45 335 2898 75 2973
2006 473 75 24 420 304 1080 84 85 416 2961 62 3023
2007 559 92 65 432 309 1093 87 116 317 3070 107 3177
2008 342 127 146 556 346 1092 86 116 157 2968 95 3063
WOMEN 0301 Manufacturing Engineering & Technology 0303 Process & Resource Engineering 0305 Automotive Engineering & Technology 0307 Mechanical & Industrial Engineering & Technology 0309 Civil Engineering 0313 Electrical & Electronic Engineering & Technology 0315 Aerospace Engineering & Technology 0317 Maritime Engineering & Technology 0399 Other Engineering & Technology TOTAL 0311 Geomatic Engineering TOTAL INCLUDING GEOMATIC ENGINEERING
280 30 0 20 15 65 10 5 5 430 15 445
265 25 0 25 20 55 15 5 0 410 15 425
300 45 0 30 10 40 15 0 5 445 10 455
355 45 0 20 25 65 5 0 40 555 15 570
403 15 0 10 29 77 9 2 50 595 15 610
468 14 2 15 15 122 10 3 21 670 13 683
408 18 0 59 59 81 6 0 20 651 6 657
TOTAL 0301 Manufacturing Engineering & Technology 785 675 915 0303 Process & Resource Engineering 85 110 150 0305 Automotive Engineering & Technology 0 10 10 0307 Mechanical & Industrial Engineering & Technology 630 665 800 0309 Civil Engineering 150 150 180 0313 Electrical & Electronic Engineering & Technology 1175 1275 1015 0315 Aerospace Engineering & Technology 115 115 110 0317 Maritime Engineering & Technology 145 130 60 0399 Other Engineering & Technology 210 130 110 TOTAL 3295 3260 3350 0311 Geomatic Engineering 135 95 75 TOTAL INCLUDING GEOMATIC ENGINEERING 3430 3355 3425 Notes: 1. Data rounded to nearest 5 by provider and, with note 2, totals will not sum. 2. # Data for 2007 is preliminary and may be updated later. Source: National VET Provider Collections, 2002-07, NCVER
875 155 40 533 245 1080 105 45 375 3453 90 3543
876 90 24 430 333 1157 93 87 466 3556 77 3633
1027 106 67 447 324 1215 97 119 338 3740 120 3860
750 145 146 615 405 1173 92 116 177 3619 101 3720
Table 3.5 shows TAFE diploma and advanced diploma completions in the same format as used for university statistics. The statistics begin in 2002, one year later than university statistics, this is the commencement year for the NCVER collection. University statistics are compiled from accountability returns to DEEWR as part of university funding arrangements, and this process has a large bearing on the generally high quality of the statistics. TAFE statistics are collected by NCVER for research purposes. The quality of these statistics and
29
THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010 collection protocols reflects the procedures of State and Territory TAFE agencies. There are always difficulties when statistics from different sources are aggregated, but this is unavoidable to build the overview required. The distribution of specialisations among TAFE completions reflects the particular emphasis followed in different jurisdictions. In NSW, the largest discipline is Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, with Electrical and Electronic Engineering the second largest. In Victoria, the dominant discipline by a large margin is Manufacturing Engineering. In Queensland the strongest group is ASCED 0399 Other Engineering, in Western Australia, Electrical and Electronic Engineering is the strongest. In 2008, there were 3,619 TAFE graduates with a diploma or advanced diploma in engineering compared to 3,740 in 2007, a fall of 121 or 3.2%. Completions had slowly increased from 2001 and overall were 324 or 9.8% higher. Almost one third of TAFE completions are in electrical and electronic engineering. In 2008 there were 750, or 20.7% completions in manufacturing engineering, 615, or 17.0% of completions in mechanical engineering and 405, or 11.2% of completions in civil engineering. Remaining completions were widely spread across several areas of specialisation. In 2002, 13.1% of TAFE engineering completions were females. This share remained static until 2004 when it began to increase steadily. By 2008, the female proportion had increased to 18%, much higher than for Bachelor degree completions.
TABLE 3.6 UNIVERSITY COMPLETIONS OF ASSOCIATE DEGREES, DIPLOMAS AND ADVANCED DIPLOMAS IN ENGINEERING 2001 2002 2003 MEN 162 176 141 WOMEN 5 10 15 TOTAL 167 186 156 Source: Data supplied by DEEWR 2004 115 9 124 2005 134 7 141 2006 106 8 114 2007 213 72 285 2008 269 78 347
Table 3.6 shows university completions of associate degrees, diplomas and advanced diplomas in engineering. Overall numbers have been relatively small, too small to sustain meaningful disaggregation into engineering specialisations. Numbers fell to 114 in 2006, but in the last two years have shown strong increases. In 2008, there were 347 completions.
3.8 The Potential Flow of Graduates to the Engineering Profession

Table 3.7 summarises the potential flow of new engineering graduates to the engineering profession from all teaching institutions. Figure 3.3 illustrates the main trends. In 2008, there were 9,880 new engineering graduates who could potentially join the engineering profession. Fom 2002 to 2004, numbers fluctuated around 9,000 but since then have increased each year. Other than two years, 2005 and 2006, the flow of potential engineering technologists has been quite low, accounting for only about 6%. The flow of potential engineering associates reflects the trend in TAFE graduations. The increases in recent years have meant that the share of this group has increased from 38.2% to 40%. The flow of potential professional engineers also showed recent increases after a period of decline from 2002 to 2005. In 2002,
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THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010 the flow of potential professional engineers was 55.6% but by 2008 this had fallen to 53.8%, reflecting the increase in TAFE graduates.
TABLE 3.7 THE POTENTIAL FLOW OF NEW GRADUATES TO THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION MEN POTENTIAL FLOW TO Engineering Officer (University) Engineering Officer (TAFE) Engineering Technologist Professional Engineers Total 2002 176 2810 473 4098 7557 2003 141 2850 449 4224 7664 2004 115 2905 441 4398 7859 2005 134 2898 583 4016 7631 2006 106 2961 679 4252 7998 2007 213 3070 475 4324 8082 2008 269 2968 472 4574 8283
WOMEN Engineering Officer (University) 10 Engineering Officer (TAFE) 405 Engineering Technologist 77 Professional Engineers 847 Total 1339
15 390 74 879 1358
9 420 76 857 1362
7 550 133 785 1475
8 595 130 792 1525
72 670 99 737 1578
78 651 127 741 1597
ALL DOMESTIC ENTRY LEVEL GRADUATES Engineering Officer (University) 186 156 124 Engineering Officer (TAFE) 3205 3300 3165 Engineering Technologist 550 523 517 Professional Engineers 4945 5103 5255 TOTAL 8886 9082 9061 Source: Statistics supplied by DEEWR and NCVER
141 3530 716 4801 9188
114 3556 809 5044 9523
285 3740 574 5061 9660
347 3619 599 5315 9880
FIGURE 3.3: THE POTENTIAL FLOW OF NEW GRADUATES TO THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION
12000 PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGISTS ENGINEERING OFFICERS 10000
8000
NUMBERS
6000
4000
2000
0 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
There is a presumption that the labour market destination of engineering graduates will be engineering occupations that belong to the engineering profession. In reality, while this nexus is stronger in engineering than in many other disciplines, the demand for engineers has increased in many non-traditional occupations and a proportion of engineering graduates respond to normal labour market incentives and accept occupations where it is unlikely they
31
THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010 will practise engineering. Some graduates begin careers in traditional engineering profession occupations and then move into non-traditional occupations later in their career. Others move directly into non-traditional areas. These developments have broadened the demand for engineers while the supply of new engineering graduates has at best increased slowly and only in recent years. Some new engineering graduates are likely to pursue higher degree studies on a full time basis and so will not be available to the labour market until they complete their chosen course. Graduate Careers Australia16 has estimated that the proportion of new graduates involved ranges between zero (for mining engineers) and 13.3% for chemical engineers. Although one cannot rely on a single years figures, the proportions moving into full time further education seem to be smaller for specialisations where skill shortages are greatest (Other engineers 13.8%; Chemical 13.3%; Electronic 11.4%; Aeronautical 11.4%; Electrical 10.0%; Mechanical 6.2%; Civil 5.2% and Mining zero).
16
Graduate Careers Australia, Graduate Destinations 2007, The Report of the Graduate Destinations Survey, www.graduatecareers.com.au
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4.
SKILLED MIGRATION
4.1 Skilled Migration and the Recognition of Engineering Qualifications

Skilled migration has been the Australian Governments main response to the shortage of skilled engineers. Historically, immigration policies have favoured migrants coming to Australia on permanent off-shore visas. From 2001, this changed and a new category of permanent visas, namely permanent on-shore visas, came into practice. From 2003-04 onwards, skilled migration has been supplemented by temporary 457 visas that require holders to return to their home countries after a specified period. Holders of temporary 457 visas may apply for permanent on-shore visa entry. Applicants for permanent off-shore and on-shore visas are required to have their qualifications assessed by an assessment authority designated by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship prior to submitting a visa application. For engineering, Engineers Australia is the main designated assessing authority and assessment is conducted in line with the qualifications and competencies required for the three occupational categories of the engineering profession. Engineering qualifications can be recognised through two distinct pathways17: Qualifications may treated as accredited qualifications if they are: Australian qualifications; Accredited under the Washington Accord which is an agreement between international engineering accreditation bodies18 to recognise the equivalence of each others undergraduate qualifications for Professional Engineers (the equivalent of an Australian four year bachelors degree); Accredited under the Sydney Accord which is an agreement between international engineering accreditation bodies19 to recognise the equivalence of each others undergraduate educational qualifications for Engineering Technologists (the equivalent of an Australian three year bachelor degree). Qualifications that are not accredited can be recognised through a competency assessment process in which applicants are asked to demonstrate that their engineering knowledge and skills meet the competency standards for the engineering occupational category they intend their visa application to relate to. These competency standards are available on Engineers Australias web-site.
All applicants applying to have their engineering qualifications recognized who are not native English speakers and who are not holders of an Australian engineering bachelors, masters or doctoral degree are required to provide evidence that their English language competence satisfies at least Band 6 in speaking, listening, reading and writing English of the International English Language Testing System20.
www.engineersaustralia.org.au The signatories to the Washington Accord are Canada, Hong Kong SAR, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Australia. 19 The signatories to the Sydney Accord are Canada, Hong Kong SAR, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom and Australia. 20 www.ielts.org
18
17
SKILLED MIGRATION
33
THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010 Engineers who come to Australia on temporary 457 visas do not have their qualifications assessed by an assessment authority. Provided that their visa application is accompanied by an employers acceptance of their qualifications, this is deemed sufficient support to fill the position offered by the employer. In the event that the holder of a 457 temporary visa wishes to apply for a permanent migration visa, their qualifications will need to be assessed in the same way as all other applications for permanent migration.
4.2 Permanent Migration

In 2008-09, permanent migration of engineers to Australia was a record high. As Table 4.1 shows, in that year 5,204 engineers migrated to Australia on permanent visas, an increase of 792 or 18.0% over 2007. Since 2000-01, the annual permanent migration intake has more than trebled.
TABLE 4.1 IMMIGRATION OF ENGINEERS TO AUSTRALIA PERMANENT PERMANENT TOTAL TEMPORARY OVERALL OFF-SHORE ON-SHORE PERMANENT 457 VISA TOTAL 2000-01 1240 31 1271 0 0 2001-02 1140 271 1411 0 0 2002-03 1447 451 1898 0 0 2003-04 1420 952 2372 1250 3622 2004-05 1732 1800 3532 1810 5342 2005-06 2312 1629 3941 2970 6911 2006-07 1980 2140 4120 3510 7630 2007-08 2503 1909 4412 4580 8992 2008-09 2746 2458 5204 4210 9414 Source: To 2003-04 Birrell, Sheridan and Rapson; since 2004-05 and 457 data Department of Immigration and Citizenship YEAR
FIGURE 4.1: ENGINEERS MIGRATING TO AUSTRALIA BY TYPE OF VISA

5000 4500 4000 3500 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 PERMANENT OFF-SHORE PERMANENT ON-SHORE TEMPORARY 457 VISA
Both permanent off-shore and permanent on-shore visa numbers have increased substantially (see Figure 4.1). In 2008-09, off-shore visa numbers were 2,746, an increase of 243 or 9.7% over the previous year. Since 2000-01, annual entrants under this visa category have increased from 1,240, or over 120% a year. There were 2,458 on-shore visa entrants in 2008-09 compared to 1,909 in the previous year, an increase of 28.8%. Activity under this
SKILLED MIGRATION
NUMBERS
34
THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010 visa category has experienced extraordinary growth since 2000-01, demonstrating a growing inter-dependence between migration policies and the export of education services. The statistics for permanent migration visas in Table 4.1 can be directly compared to domestic completions because these occupations required an educational qualification equivalent to an Australian Bachelors degree in engineering. Comparison is made awkward by migration statistics being for financial years and education statistics for calendar years. The convention used is to compare calendar statistics to the first part of the corresonding financial year; thus 2008 education statistics are compared to 2008-09 migration statistics. This comparison is shown in Figure 4.2 and shows that permanent migration has added an increasing component to Australias domestic completions of degree qualified engineers and by 2008, had added another 88% to the 5,914 domestic Bachelors degree completions.
TABLE 4.2 IMMIGRATION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS TO AUSTRALIA PERMANENT PERMANENT TOTAL TEMPORARY OVERALL OFF-SHORE ON-SHORE PERMANENT 457 VISA TOTAL 2000-01 237 3 240 na na 2001-02 220 44 264 na na 2002-03 266 67 333 na na 2003-04 226 129 355 190 545 2004-05 260 187 447 330 777 2005-06 456 239 695 580 1275 2006-07 504 305 809 750 1559 2007-08 660 261 921 1190 2111 2008-09 702 442 1144 1040 2184 Source: To 2003-04 Birrell, Sheridan and Rapson; since 2004-05 and 457 data Department of Immigration and Citizenship YEAR
TABLE 4.3 IMMIGRATION OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS TO AUSTRALIA PERMANENT PERMANENT TOTAL TEMPORARY OVERALL OFF-SHORE ON-SHORE PERMANENT 457 VISA TOTAL 2000-01 236 2 238 na na 2001-02 200 36 236 na na 2002-03 212 68 280 na na 2003-04 248 163 411 210 621 2004-05 310 311 621 310 931 2005-06 370 390 760 530 1290 2006-07 335 703 1038 710 1748 2007-08 605 614 1219 700 1919 2008-09 701 784 1485 800 2285 Source: To 2003-04 Birrell, Sheridan and Rapson; since 2004-05 and 457 data Department of Immigration and Citizenship YEAR
SKILLED MIGRATION
35

TABLE 4.4 IMMIGRATION OF MECHANICAL AND PRODUCTION ENGINEERS TO AUSTRALIA PERMANENT PERMANENT TOTAL TEMPORARY OVERALL OFF-SHORE ON-SHORE PERMANENT 457 VISA TOTAL 2000-01 222 4 226 na na 2001-02 162 31 193 na na 2002-03 257 74 331 na na 2003-04 279 144 423 350 773 2004-05 349 233 582 440 1022 2005-06 442 267 709 770 1479 2006-07 435 487 922 740 1662 2007-08 627 432 1059 1020 2079 2008-09 737 517 1254 700 1954 Source: To 2003-04 Birrell, Sheridan and Rapson; since 2004-05 and 457 data Department of Immigration and Citizenship YEAR
TABLE 4.5 IMMIGRATION OF MINING AND MATERIALS ENGINEERS TO AUSTRALIA PERMANENT PERMANENT TOTAL TEMPORARY OVERALL OFF-SHORE ON-SHORE PERMANENT 457 VISA TOTAL 2000-01 45 0 45 na na 2001-02 48 4 52 na na 2002-03 36 5 41 na na 2003-04 46 13 59 140 199 2004-05 49 15 64 210 274 2005-06 52 18 70 320 390 2006-07 57 25 82 400 482 2007-08 59 91 150 490 640 2008-09 64 110 174 560 734 Source: To 2003-04 Birrell, Sheridan and Rapson; since 2004-05 and 457 data Department of Immigration and Citizenship YEAR
TABLE4.6 IMMIGRATION OF ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGISTS TO AUSTRALIA PERMANENT PERMANENT TOTAL TEMPORARY OVERALL OFF-SHORE ON-SHORE PERMANENT 457 VISA TOTAL 2000-01 117 4 121 na na 2001-02 157 36 193 na na 2002-03 185 41 226 na na 2003-04 181 140 321 100 421 2004-05 257 262 519 160 679 2005-06 343 165 508 250 758 2006-07 209 148 357 310 667 2007-08 154 181 335 360 695 2008-09 133 158 291 410 701 Source: To 2003-04 Birrell, Sheridan and Rapson; since 2004-05 and 457 data Department of Immigration and Citizenship YEAR
SKILLED MIGRATION
36

TABLE 4.7 IMMIGRATION OF OTHER ENGINEERS TO AUSTRALIA PERMANENT PERMANENT TOTAL TEMPORARY OVERALL OFF-SHORE ON-SHORE PERMANENT 457 VISA TOTAL 2000-01 383 18 401 0 0 2001-02 353 120 473 0 0 2002-03 491 196 687 0 0 2003-04 440 363 803 260 1053 2004-05 507 792 1299 360 1659 2005-06 649 550 1199 520 1719 2006-07 440 472 912 600 1512 2007-08 398 330 728 820 1548 2008-09 409 447 856 700 856 Source: To 2003-04 Birrell, Sheridan and Rapson; since 2004-05 and 457 data Department of Immigration and Citizenship YEAR
FIGURE 4.2: DOMESTIC ENGINEERING BACHELORS COMPLETIONS COMPARED TO PERMANENT AND TEMPORARY MIGRATION OF ENGINEERS
16000 TEMPORARY VISAS 14000 PERMANENT ON-SHORE PERMANENT OFF-SHORE DEGREE COMPLETIONS 12000
10000
NUM,BERS
8000
6000
4000
2000
0 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Tables 4.2 to 4.7 show that the growth of permant visas was particularly strong in three engineering specialisations. In 2008-09, the largest intake was electrical and electronic engineers with 1,485 or 28.5% of the intake; there were 1,254 mechanical and production engineers, or 24.1% of the intake; and there were 1,144 civil engineers, or 22% of the intake. Mining and materials engineers with 174 were a relatively minor share of the intake, as were engineering technologists with 294. Other engineers, including chemical engineers accounted for 856 permanent migrants.
4.3 Temporary Migration

Since 2003, a growing number of engineers have come to Australia under temporary 457 migration visas. In 2008-09, 4,210 migrant engineers came to Australia covered by this visa class. This was a fall of 370, or -8.1% compared to 2007-08, but was still 700, or 19.9% higher than in 2006-07.
SKILLED MIGRATION
37
THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010 The entry of migrant engineers under permanent visas did not appear to be influenced by the global financial crisis. However, there were indications that employers adjusted their intakes of temporary migrant engineers in line with economic conditions. The number of temporary civil engineers fell from 1,190 in 2007-08 to 1,040 in 2008-09 and the number of temporary mechanical and production engineers fell sharply from 1,020 in 2007-08 too 700 in 2008-09. However, the number of temporary electrical and electronic engineers increased from 700 in 2007-08 to 800 in 2008-09; the number of temporary mining and materials engineers increased from 490 in 2007-08 to 560 in 2008-09 while the number of temporary engineering technologists increased from 360 to 410. At this stage, the 2008-09 statistic for other engineers is not known. Figure 4.2 shows that migrant engineers, both permanent and temporary, now exceed domestic completions of Bachelors degrees in engineering by a significant margin. In 200708, the combined total of permanent and temporary migrant engineers was 3,357 higher than domestic completions and migrants were 61.5% of new engineers in that year. In 2008-09, the combined total of migrant engineers exceeded domestic completions by 3,700 and migrants were 61.4% of new engineers.
SKILLED MIGRATION
38
5.
OTHER CHARACTERISTICS OF ENGINEERS
5.1 Introduction
The purpose of this Statistical Overview is to assemble statistics from as many sources as possible to shed light on the size and characteristics of the engineering workforce. This Chapter considers several characteristics describing engineers including, age, work experience and salaries. Statistics on these matters are not available from official sources and the statistics used here statistics are from the Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers, Australia (APESMA)21 surveys of engineering salaries. These surveys have been conducted since 1974 and use a random sample drawn from members of APESMA and Engineers Australia22. The statistics differentiate between engineers in the private and public sectors, as well as between engineers at different points in their careers. While quartile statistics are available, here the focus is on mean statistics that for most purposes provides useful insights.
5.2 Responsibility Levels

APESMA defines 6 responsibility levels, with five specifically differentiated by degree of experience and competences and the sixth senior to these23. The responsibility levels are: Level 1 Professional Engineer; this is the graduate engineer entry level. The engineer undertakes engineering tasks of limited scope and complexity in offices, plants, in the field or in laboratories under the supervision of more senior engineers. Level 2 Professional Engineer; this level recognizes the experience and competence gained as a Level 1 Engineer. At this level engineers have greater independence and less supervision, but guidance on unusual features is provided by engineers with more substantial experience. Level 3 Professional Engineer; this level requires the application of mature engineering knowledge with scope for individual accomplishment and problem solving that require modification of established guides. Original contributions to engineering approaches and techniques are common. This level outlines and assigns work, reviews it for technical accuracy and adequacy and may plan, direct, coordinate and supervise other professional and technical staff. Level 4 Professional Engineers; this level requires considerable independence in approach with a high degree of originality, ingenuity and judgment. Positions responsibilities often include independent decisions on engineering policies and procedures for overall programs, provision of technical advice to management, detailed technical responsibility for product development and the provision of specialized engineering systems and facilities and the coordination of work programs,
APESMA, Professional Engineer Remuneration Survey Reports, December 1997 to 2007, www.apesma.asn.au A subsidiary of Engineers Australia, Engineers Media, also conducts a salaries survey, but this commenced in 2004 and does not provide a time series of sufficient length. This survey samples businesses that hire engineers rather than individuals and has provided useful data on engineering skill shortages. See www.engineersmedia.org.au 23 APESMA, op cit, December 2007, pp8-9
22
21
39
THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010 administrative function, directing several professional and other groups engaged in inter-related engineering responsibilities or as an engineering consultant. This level independently conceives programs and problems to be investigated and participates in their resolution within existing organizational operating and management arrangements. Typical reporting line is to senior management. Above Level 5 Professional Engineer; this level is not separately defined by APESMA, but is used for engineering senior management positions including, Managing Director, Chief Executive Officer and Group General Manager.
The APESMA data are available for the past 30 years, but only the past decade is covered in this Overview. APESMA statistics relate to Professional Engineers only and do not cover Engineering Technologists and Engineering Associates.
5.3 Age
The mean age of private sector engineers in each of the responsibility levels is shown in Table 5.1. Table 5.2 shows the corresponding statistics for public sector engineers.
TABLE 5.1 THE MEAN AGES OF PRIVATE SECTOR ENGINEERS YEAR LEVEL 1 LEVEL 2 LEVEL 3 LEVEL 4 LEVEL 5 > LEVEL 5 1997 25.0 31.0 36.0 41.0 43.0 47.0 1998 25.0 29.0 36.0 42.0 43.0 46.0 1999 26.0 29.0 36.0 42.0 44.0 45.0 2000 25.0 30.0 36.0 42.0 44.0 46.0 2001 26.0 29.0 35.0 42.0 43.0 48.0 2002 25.8 30.3 35.6 43.3 43.2 46.9 2003 26.0 29.7 35.3 42.9 43.9 46.3 2004 26.5 30.5 36.4 42.4 42.3 48.9 2005 25.2 29.5 36.3 43.8 43.9 47.1 2006 25.1 29.4 37.8 44.3 46.6 48.5 2007 24.7 28.1 37.4 44.6 47.5 50.8 2008 24.9 29.5 37.6 45.3 48.3 50.5 2009 24.3 29.8 39.0 44.2 49.6 51.6 Source: APESMA, Professional Engineer Remuneration Survey Reports
TABLE 5.2 THE MEAN AGES OF PUBLIC SECTOR ENGINEERS YEAR LEVEL 1 LEVEL 2 LEVEL 3 LEVEL 4 LEVEL 5 > LEVEL 5 1997 27.0 38.0 42.0 45.0 46.0 49.0 1998 27.0 35.0 42.0 46.0 47.0 49.0 1999 29.0 36.0 42.0 45.0 48.0 49.0 2000 28.0 37.0 42.0 47.0 48.0 49.0 2001 29.0 37.0 41.0 47.0 48.0 50.0 2002 29.2 39.7 41.5 47.2 48.2 50.0 2003 28.4 37.3 42.5 47.4 49.0 51.1 2004 28.2 39.3 40.4 46.5 47.2 50.7 2005 27.1 38.1 42.5 47.2 47.1 52.2 2006 27.0 33.4 42.6 47.4 50.5 52.2 2007 25.4 33.7 43.8 47.7 49.1 53.6 2008 26.5 34.6 41.7 48.6 49.7 53.8 2009 25.9 35.2 42.3 48.0 51.9 55.1 Source: APESMA, Professional Engineer Remuneration Survey Reports
40
In general, private sector engineers are younger at each resonsibility level than public sector colleagues. Although there are frequent annual fluctuations, the pattern in both sectors is one of remarkable stability within responsibility levels. However, over time more engineers have moved into higher responsibility levels leading to an increase in average age. The average age for each sector was estimated as a population weighted average across responsibility levels and the sectoral averages obtained were similarly weighted and combined to estimate the average age for the two sectors combined. Table 5.3 shows the average age of private sector, public sector and all engineers combined since 1997. The trends in this Table are illustrated in Figure 5.1.
TABLE 5.3 THE MEAN AGES OF ENGINEERS IN AUSTRALIA YEAR 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 PRIVATE SECTOR PUBLIC SECTOR ALL ENGINEERS 35.6 42.2 38.7 35.9 42.6 38.3 36.4 42.4 38.3 36.9 43.6 39.0 36.5 42.8 38.8 37.4 43.8 40.3 37.5 43.7 40.2 37.9 43.0 40.2 38.2 43.9 40.7 40.3 45.0 42.1 39.3 44.4 41.3 40.7 44.9 42.4 39.8 44.9 41.8
FIGURE 5.1: THE MEAN AGES OF AUSTRALIAN ENGINEERS

46.0
44.0
42.0
AGE IN YEARS
40.0
38.0
36.0
34.0 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 PUBLIC 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
PRIVATE
ALL ENGINEERS
At the beginning of the period shown, the average age of private sector engineers was about 6 years younger than public sector engineers, but in recent years this gap has reduced and is now about 5 years, still a significant difference. The average age of both sectors combined
41
THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010 has been increasing over time, but a slow down in this change has been evident in recent years. This is an important outcome in the light of the large numbers of migrant engineers joining the Australian labour market. Present arrangements in the migration system favours younger engineers, especially those aged under 34 years.
5.4 Work Experience

The key differences between the responsibility levels described above, was acquiring higher level competencies and this is strongly associated with work experience. Table 5.4 shows the average years of work experience of private sector engineers for the various responsibility levels since 1997. The trends in this Table are illustrated in Figure 5.2. The corresponding statistics for public sector engineers are shown in Table 5.5 and illustrated in Figure 5.3.
TABLE 5.4 MEAN YEARS OF WORK EXPERIENCE OF PRIVATE SECTOR ENGINEERS YEAR LEVEL 1 LEVEL 2 LEVEL 3 LEVEL 4 LEVEL 5 > LEVEL 5 1997 1.8 7.4 12.6 17.0 19.9 24.0 1998 1.8 5.4 11.8 18.2 20.1 22.7 1999 2.2 5.8 12.5 18.2 20.6 22.1 2000 1.7 6.0 12.6 17.8 20.1 22.8 2001 2.4 5.5 11.7 18.1 19.8 24.2 2002 2.8 6.8 11.9 19.3 19.4 23.7 2003 2.4 6.2 11.4 18.8 19.7 23.7 2004 3.4 6.9 12.5 18.8 18.8 26.1 2005 2.0 5.9 12.3 19.6 19.7 24.0 2006 1.6 5.6 13.8 20.2 23.1 24.8 2007 1.6 4.7 13.5 20.2 23.9 28.0 2008 1.6 6.0 13.4 21.0 24.3 26.5 2009 1.5 5.6 14.8 20.2 26.5 28.5 Source: APESMA, Professional Engineer Remuneration Survey Reports TABLE 5.5 MEAN YEARS OF WORK EXPERIENCE OF PUBLIC SECTOR ENGINEERS YEAR LEVEL 1 LEVEL 2 LEVEL 3 LEVEL 4 LEVEL 5 > LEVEL 5 1997 3.0 13.7 17.6 21.3 22.9 26.1 1998 2.6 11.1 17.3 22.2 23.2 25.4 1999 5.1 11.6 18.2 21.0 24.4 25.6 2000 4.9 12.8 18.0 23.3 24.4 26.6 2001 5.8 12.5 17.2 22.9 24.4 26.8 2002 5.8 15.3 17.7 23.5 24.6 26.6 2003 4.6 13.0 18.2 23.3 25.1 28.3 2004 4.5 15.0 16.3 22.6 23.8 27.7 2005 4.5 14.1 17.9 23.2 23.4 28.4 2006 2.5 8.6 17.3 23.1 26.9 29.2 2007 1.7 8.7 19.1 24.0 25.0 29.9 2008 2.4 10.1 17.1 24.3 26.5 31.3 2009 1.8 9.4 17.2 23.2 27.9 32.5 Source: APESMA, Professional Engineer Remuneration Survey Reports
On average private sector engineers have fewer years of work experience than public sector engineers at each level of responsibility. Annual fluctuations are relatively high but in both sectors the trends in work experience for levels 1 and 2 have been relatively constant, although in recent years there has been some evidence of lesser years of experience in
42
THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010 these grades in the public sector. This could be a response to skill shortages in the public sector. One response to skills shortages is to hire individuals with less work experience than was the case in the past. In most cases, a requirement of public sector employment is Australian citizenship and this means that public sector access to the large crop of younger migrant engineers who have come to Australia in recent years may be delayed by the time it takes individuals to obtain citizenship. This is not an issue in the private sector and may be part of the explanation for the flat trends in these grades.
FIGURE 5.2: AVERAGE YEARS OF WORK EXPERIENCE OF PRIVATE SECTOR ENGINEERS
30.0
25.0
20.0
YEARS
15.0
10.0
5.0
0.0 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 LEVEL 2 2002 2003 2004 LEVEL4 2005 2006 2007 LEVEL 5+ 2008 2009
LEVEL 1
LEVEL3
LEVEL 5
FIGURE 5.3: MEAN YEARS OF WORK EXPERIENCE OF PUBLIC SECTOR ENGINEERS

35.0
30.0
25.0
20.0
YEARS
15.0
10.0
5.0
0.0 1997 1998 1999 LEVEL 1 2000 2001 LEVEL 2 2002 2003 2004 LEVEL 4 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
LEVEL 3
LEVEL 5
> LEVEL 5
In the private sector, the average work experience in responsibility levels 3 and above has been increasing. There are similar trends in the public sector, but for level 4 and above. The most likely explanation for these trends is the aging of the engineering workforce as explained in the previous section. Because skilled migration favours younger engineers, the influence of skilled migration is more likely to be evident for lower responsibility levels given the statistics in the Tables are from 1997. Skilled migration may have an ameliorating impact on the rising trends discussed,but more information is necessary to separate this from the dominant aging impact. Similarly, there does not appear to be any evidence that skill shortages have led to more rapid movements to the more senior responsibility levels.
43
5.5 Salary Packages

This section looks at the salary packages paid to engineers and how they have changed in real terms and compared to movements in average adult ordinary time earnings. Statistics for salary packages were obtained from the December APESMA salary survey and deflated using the implicit GDP deflator from the Australian national accounts. The base year for the deflator is 2007-08 and this is a revision from previous editions of the Statistical Overview where 2006-07 was used as base.
TABLE 5.6 MEAN SALARIES OF PRIVATE SECTOR ENGINEERS (2007-08 PRICES) YEAR LEVEL 1 LEVEL 2 LEVEL 3 LEVEL 4 LEVEL 5 > LEVEL 5 1997 57230 78145 93774 110544 147605 212029 1998 61376 76780 95583 118168 151968 219771 1999 60788 77283 96723 120931 150439 206670 2000 63348 80233 98505 125527 150469 246993 2001 65861 77345 96812 124740 148211 222054 2002 62620 80439 100485 132090 148609 224861 2003 61771 78557 96727 124719 152640 217849 2004 61735 75306 93911 126221 145324 223202 2005 62439 78241 93058 124673 145006 241373 2006 62965 80953 101439 136116 165579 235870 2007 66833 81624 105127 138192 175511 270455 2008 65431 87172 105801 141744 172233 247411 2009 73064 85389 111291 146837 189862 237062 Source: APESMA, Professional Engineer Remuneration Survey Report and ABS, Australian National Accounts, Cat No 5206.0 TABLE 5.7 MEAN SALARIES OF PUBLIC SECTOR ENGINEERS (2007-08 PRICES) YEAR LEVEL 1 LEVEL 2 LEVEL 3 LEVEL 4 LEVEL 5 > LEVEL 5 1997 57601 73972 89183 104556 131962 190378 1998 60419 77987 94219 110184 138021 185364 1999 62566 79124 95166 110986 166730 200048 2000 61437 83561 96655 117028 136054 239549 2001 67845 83665 97763 117472 141018 208354 2002 67293 85079 96832 117704 141172 188510 2003 65553 83477 95968 119905 142563 185726 2004 63267 81720 92324 116492 138337 181459 2005 64122 82336 91671 117928 134891 192243 2006 66406 88487 96374 116529 139753 201675 2007 64242 86334 99761 120155 144587 178492 2008 66436 83240 97019 117741 142147 186714 2009 68163 90509 105054 126143 152123 217809 Source: APESMA, Professional Engineer Remuneration Survey Reports and ABS, Australian National Accounts, Cat No 5206.0
Table 5.6 shows the value of real salary packages for private sector engineers and Table 5.7 shows the corresponding statistics for the public sector. The significance of these statistics is drawn out in Figures 5.4 to 5.9. These illustrations compare the trends in the ratios of private and public sector salary packages to average adult ordinary time earnings for the 6 responsibility levels to consider whether the differences between engineering salaries and average earning have changed and to highlight the impact of skills shortages. For this
44
THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010 comparison, average adult ordinary times earnings were annualised and adjusted to include statutory superannuation.
FIGURE 5.4: COMPARING PRIVATE AND PUBLIC SECTOR ENGINEERS LEVEL 1 SALARY PACKAGES
1.50
1.40
1.30
RATIO TO AWE
1.20 PRIVATE L1 1.10 PUBLIC L1
1.00
0.90
0.80
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
FIGURE 5.5: COMPARING PRIVATE AND PUBLIC ENGINEERS LEVEL 2 SALARY PACKAGES
2.00 1.90 1.80 1.70
RATIO TO AWE
1.60 1.50 1.40 1.30 1.20 1.10 1.00 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 PRIVATE L2 PUBLIC L2
Figure 5.4 shows that the significant difference between public and private sector level 1 salary packages has eroded over time. Public sector salary packages have fallen in relation to average adult ordinary time earnings (AWE) and are now more-or-less on par with them. Private sector salary packages rose in relation to AWE until 2001 and then fell until 2004. About this time engineering skills shortages were being felt in the Australian economy and private sector salary packages began to rise in relation to AWE and from 2007 onwards exceeded public sector packages. Figure 5.5 compares level 2 engineers salary packages. There was a similar fall in the trend for public sector engineer level 2 salary packages,but the private sector trend was more ambivalent with the changes shown more compatible with periodic fluctuations than any clear cut trend.
45
FIGURE 5.6: COMPARING PRIVATE AND PUBLIC SECTOR ENGINEER LEVEL 3 SALARY PACKAGES
2.40
2.20
2.00
RATIO TO AWE
1.80 PRIVATE L3 1.60 PUBLIC L3
1.40
1.20
1.00 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2.70
2.50
2.30
RATIO TO AWE
2.10
PRIVATE L4 PUBLIC L4
1.90
1.70
1.50 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
The characteristics of the trends for engineer level 3 salary packages in Figure 5.6 are comparable to those for level 1 in Figure 5.4. Public sector salary packages fell in comparison to AWE and in the private sector after falling until 2005, there has been an increase in salary package relativities for the period when skills shortages were evident. This trend reversed in 2009 in line with responses to the global financial crisis. Figure 5.7 and 5.8 shows the trends for engineer level 4 and level 5 salary packages respectively. There were strong falls in public sector salary package relativities, but a similar pattern to other grades in the private sector. From 2005 onwards, private sector salary packages increased relative to AWE, peaking at 2.3 times AWE for level 4 and at over 2.8 times AWE for level 5. The impact of the global financial crisis is evident in the 2009 for level 4 but did not appear to impact level 5.
46
4.00 3.80 3.60 3.40
RATIO TO AWE
3.20 3.00 2.80 2.60 2.40 2.20 2.00 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 PRIVATE L5 PUBLIC L5
FIGURE 5.9: COMPARING PRIVATE AND PUBLIC SALARY PACKAGES FOR ENGINEERS ABOVE LEVEL 5
5.50
5.00
4.50
RATIO TO AWE
4.00
PRIVATE ABOVE 5 PUBLIC ABOVE 5
3.50
3.00
2.50 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Above level 5 the pattern was different. Public sector salary package relativities fell until 2007 when a recovery was evident. Private sector salary package relativities fluctuated above 3.5 times AWE until 2004 when they began to increase. The increase continued until 2007 and was followed by two years of falls, suggesting that at the most senior levels, the impact of the global financial crisis may have been felt earlier. In general, private sector salaries are likely to be more responsive to labour market conditions than public sector salaries, which involve more institutional factors. The above illustrations suggest that public sector salaries have moved in a counter-intutive way at a time of engineering skill shortages. There is some evidence of private sector salaries increasing in response to skill shortages, but this evidence is not sufficiently strong to be conclusive.
47
5.6 Graduate Commencing Salaries

An important factor attracting students to study engineering is the starting salaries they can aspire to. Table 5.8 shows the real value of graduate engineer starting salaries in constant 2007-08 prices since 1997. Figure 5.10 illustrates the trends in this Table.
TABLE 5.8 MEAN GRADUATE ENGINEERING COMMENCING SALARIES YEAR MEN WOMEN ALL 1997 40101 38517 39682 1998 39803 40561 39912 1999 41269 40683 41163 2000 46343 42466 45257 2001 46823 46475 46736 2003 47364 48898 47838 2003 51627 48093 50629 2004 51537 51015 51392 2005 53616 53765 53638 2006 58313 57122 57969 2007 58951 62618 61741 2008 63679 69554 64627 2009 73799 70750 73241 Source: APESMA, Professional Engineer Remuneration Survey Reports
FIGURE 5.10: ENGINEERING GRADUATE SALARIES RELATIVE TO AVERAGE ORDINARY EARNINGS

1.20
MULTIPLE OF AVERAGE EARNINGS
1.15
1.10
1.05
1.00
0.95 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2003 MEN 2003 2004 2005 ALL 2006 2007 2008 2009
WOMEN
The statistics reported above are from the APESMA salary surveys to maintain consistency with the salaries statistics discussed in the previous section. To establish how engineering salaries compare to equivalent starting salaries in other disciplines, one needs to turn to statistics from the Graduate Careers Australia24. Over the past decade engineering
24
Graduate Careers Australia, GradStats, December 2008, www.gradstatsonline.com.au
48
THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010 graduates have typically commanded the 4th highest starting salaries. In 2008, they were the 3rd highest, exceeded only by dentistry and optometry. The trends shown above should be seen against this background. Since 2005, engineering graduate starting salaries have increased strongly in real terms and in relation to AWE. In 2009, real salaries increased by 13.3% over the previous year following a 4.7% real increase the year before. For most of the period since 1997, engineering graduate starting salaries have fluctuated about 5% above AWE. Since 2005, this margin has increased and in 2009 was 15% above AWE.
49
6.
WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT ENGINEERING SKILL SHORTAGES?
6.1 Introduction
Until the onset of the global financial crisis it was widely acknowledged that Australia had a shortage of skilled engineers. This is despite the difficulties involved in formally substantiating this situation. The evidence available was from surveys of employers, from indirect or surrogate measures, from strong immigration statistics and anecdotal information from employers and from members of Engineers Australia. The normal lag in the availability of official statistics has clouded the situation. Engineers Australia believes there are indications that during the course of 2010 shortages of skilled engineers will re-emerge as a serious constraint to infrastructure development and the development of Australias exports of commodities. This chapter considers the available evidence to support this view.
6.2 The Base Line for Evaluation of Skills Shortages

Most macroeconomic labour market policy is based on statistics from ABS Labour Force Survey. Because this source is a survey it has limitations when the survey population is disaggregated for occupational analysis because standard error problems are quickly encountered. Alternative disaggregated statistics are not generally available. In this section, statistics from the 2006 Population Census are used to define a benchmark against which surrogate information for later years can be compared. Late in 2009, the ABS released the 2006 Population Census Tablebuilder facility. Tablebuilder enables users to design cross-tabulations from the census databases to focus on particular issues25. Tablebuilder was used to estimate the qualified engineers labour force and its two components, employed and unemployed engineers. A broad approach to qualified engineers was used and included all individuals in the economy holding formal qualifications in engineering at diploma, advanced diploma, bachelors degree or higher qualifications. In the 2006 Population Census there were 305,931 individuals in Australia who held an engineering qualification. There were 184,151 individuals with degrees or higher qualifications in engineering and 121,780 individuals with diplomas, advanced diplomas or associate degrees in engineering. A substantial number were not in the labour force. There were 27,529 individuals with degrees or higher and 28,611 individuals with diploma qualifications in this category. Many were retired from the labour force, but 5,655 were in full time education. There were 5,079 women qualified engineers aged between 20 and 49 years in this category, including 1,263 in full time study. The labour force comprises individuals who are employed and individuals who are unemployed but actively looking for employment. In 2006, the labour force of qualified engineers was 249,791 of whom 156,622 held degrees or higher and 93,169 individuals held diploma level qualifications. There were 242,425 qualified engineers employed (151,977 degrees and 90,448 diplomas) and 7,366 qualified engineers unemployed (4,645 degrees and 2,721 diplomas). Table 6.1 shows the unemployment rates for qualified
The material in this section draws on a forth-coming Engineers Australia publication Engineers and the Engineering Profession In Australia; A Profile from the 2006 Population Census. Tablebuilder cross-tabulations will occasionally produce small differences in totals because not all individuals responding to the Census answer all questions fully and/or accurately.
25
50
THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010 engineers in Australia and in each of the States and Territories. Figure 6.1 illustrates the statistics in Table 6.1.
TABLE 6.1 UNEMPLOYMENT RATES FOR QUALIFIED ENGINEERS IN THE 2006 POPULATION CENSUS (%) DEGREE DIPLOMA QUALIFIED QUALIFIED NSW 3.34 3.09 VICTORIA 3.39 3.57 QUEENSLAND 2.12 2.30 SOUTH AUSTRALIA 3.47 3.11 WESTERN AUSTRALIA 1.88 2.14 TASMANIA 1.94 3.75 NT 0.44 0.98 ACT 2.10 1.51 OTHER AREAS 0.00 0.00 AUSTRALIA 2.97 2.92 Source: ABS, 2006 Population Census Tablebuilder JURISDICTION ALL QUALIFICATIONS 3.25 3.46 2.20 3.33 1.98 2.94 0.73 1.89 0.00 2.95
FIGURE 6.1: UNEMPLOYMENT RATES FOR QUALIFIED ENGINEERS IN 2006

DEGREE QUALIFIED 4.00 3.50 DIPLOMA QUALIFIED ALL QUALIFICATIONS
UNEMPLOYMENT RATE (%)
3.00 2.50 2.00 1.50 1.00 0.50 0.00
In 2006, the unemployment rate for qualified engineers in Australia was 2.95% compared to 5.24% for the general work force. There was little difference between the unemployment rate for degree qualified individuals (2.97%) and diploma qualified individuals (2.92%). The highest unemployment rate for qualified engineers was in Victoria (3.46%), two-thirds the unemployment rate for the economy, and the lowest in the Northern Territory (0.73%). The two jurisdictions at the leading edge of minerals and commodities developments, Western Australia and Queensland recorded rates of 1.98% and 2.20% respectively. The unemployment rates shown in Table 6.1 provide unambiguous evidence that in 2006 there was an acute shortage of qualified engineers in Australia. The pool of unemployed qualified engineers can be disaggregated into 4,868 individuals born overseas and 2,498 individuals born in Australia. The unemployment rate for migrant qualified engineers with degrees was 1.95% and and the unemployment rate for Australian born qualified engineers was 1.0%. Among the migrant unemployed, 3,410 were degree qualified and 1,458 were diploma qualified with unemployment rates of 2.18% and 1.56% respectively. Thus while there are more unemployed overseas born qualified engineers than
51
THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010 Australian born qualified engineers, the unemployment rates for overseas born individuals are consistent with shortages of qualified engineers.
TABLE 6.2 UNEMPLOYMENT RATES FOR ENGINEERING EDUCATION SPECIALISATIONS IN 2006 SPECIALISATION DEGREE QUALIFIED 2.53 4.42 4.66 3.11 1.79 3.05 3.95 4.92 0.00 3.13 5.10 4.76 3.67 2.66 0.00 0.00 3.72 2.36 0.00 2.46 3.05 4.06 4.32 6.49 5.61 2.18 0.00 3.09 .. 5.43 3.33 3.76 4.60 4.64 2.97 DIPLOMA QUALIFIED 2.64 4.77 5.42 6.58 1.65 2.37 3.21 2.17 5.50 2.88 3.37 4.49 0.00 3.34 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 2.34 2.48 3.34 7.26 3.54 2.93 2.37 2.31 2.85 0.71 2.27 3.67 6.12 0.00 1.24 2.92 ALL QUALIFICATIONS 2.56 4.52 5.29 3.29 1.75 2.85 3.56 2.66 5.45 3.02 4.52 4.50 3.67 2.92 0.00 0.00 3.72 2.36 0.00 2.43 2.85 3.74 4.84 5.05 3.59 2.22 2.31 2.91 1.21 2.93 3.60 3.86 4.28 2.44 2.95 LABOUR FORCE 106,148 1616 4030 5829 3877 4384 3621 338 220 18573 1218 844 381 1334 22 72 215 127 16 20336 17484 7110 3860 5547 21397 1618 1428 8843 580 1501 3582 1087 421 2130 249,789
Engineering & Related Technologies NFD Manufacturing Engineering Rest of Manufacturing Engineering Chemical Engineering Mining Engineering Materials Engineering Rest of Process & Resource Engineering Automotive Engineering Rest of Automotive Engineering Mechanical Engineering Industrial Engineering Rest of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering Construction Engineering Structural Engineering Building Services Engineering Water & Sanitary Engineering Transport Engineering Geotechnical Engineering Ocean Engineering Rest of Civil Engineering Electrical Engineering Electronic Engineering Computer Engineering Communications Technologies Rest of Electrical & Electronic Engineering Aerospace Engineering Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Aircraft Operations Rest of Aerospace Engineering Maritime Engineering Rest of Maritime Engineering Environmental Engineering Biomedical Engineering Rest of Other Engineering ALL SPECIALISATIONS Source: ABS, 2006 Population Census Tablebuilder
Table 6.2 looks at unemployment rates for engineering education specialisation. An alternative to education specialisations are the occupations that engineers are employed in. However, to be in an occupation means that an individual is by definition employed. Thus this is not a viable alternative to consider the labour market circumstances of engineers and educational specialisations are used instead. Table 6.2 provides statistics for the majority of ASCED 6- digit engineering classifications. In the main the labour market destination for engineering educational specialisations is linked to occupations that depend on these skills. Thus, most mechanical engineers in Table 6.2 are likely to hold occupations with strong mechanical engineering connections even though occupation titles may vary. The main exception in Table 6.2 is civil engineering where the specific specialisations identified are in the minority and most civil engineers come from the group rest of civil engineering. The significance of Table 6.2 is that most engineering education specialisations in 2006 had unemployment rates well below the unemployment rate for the Australian labour force as a whole (5.24%). The few exceptions, highlighted in yellow, have unemployment rates at about or above the national rate. They include diploma level engineers in the rest of manufacturing engineering category, diploma level chemical engineers, diploma level automotive engineers, diploma level computer engineers, degree level engineers in communications technologies, degree level engineers in the rest of electrical and electronic engineering category, degree level maritime engineers and diploma level environmental engineers. Most groups are relatively small in size, including the degree component of the rest of electrical and electronic
52
THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010 engineers (5,281). Diploma level engineers in this group in contrast had a low unemployment rate. Since 2006, there has been strong growth in the Australian economy, especially in those areas of the economy in which engineers are employed. Growth in the supply of engineers to meet demand has come from the flow of new domestic graduates holding entry level qualifications, full time students resuming labour market activity after completing higher education courses and overseas engineers entering Australia under permanent and temporary migrant visas. As well, some of the 2006 pool of unemployed qualified engineers may have found employment.
6.3 Survey Evidence

In the absence of definitive time series statistics on whether the supply of engineers is sufficient to meet the demand for engineers, a useful approach is to survey the views of employers who hire large numbers of engineers. Since 2006, Engineers Australia has included a range of questions relating to skills shortages in the annual engineering salaries survey undertaken by its subsidiary company Engineers Media26. This survey uses a different approach to the APESMA survey that was used in chapter 5. APESMA surveys individual engineers and the results are suited to the analysis of engineers characteristics undertaken. The Engineers Media survey is directed to businesses that employ engineers, in many cases large number of them. Survey respondents are business owners or human relations managers who are best able to reflect on the adequacy of numbers.
TABLE 6.3 AN OVERVIEW OF ENGINEERING SKILLS SHORTAGES SINCE 2006 SECTOR OF NUMBER OF ECONOMY EMPLOYERS PRIVATE 138 PUBLIC 61 TOTAL 199 2007 PRIVATE 122 PUBLIC 20 TOTAL 142 2008 PRIVATE 196 PUBLIC 38 TOTAL 234 2009 PRIVATE 152 PUBLIC 41 TOTAL 193 Source: Engineers Australia Surveys SURVEY YEAR 2006 EXPERIENCED SHORTAGES (%) 68 85 73 76 70 75 72 79 73 51 63 53 DID NOT EXPERIENCE SHORTAGES (%) 32 14 27 24 30 25 28 21 27 49 37 47
Table 6.3 shows an overview of survey results since 2006. The survey is administered in December each year. During this period, the Australian economy experienced strong economic growth, which then was impacted by the global financial crisis. These impacts began to be felt in 2008 and were widespread during 2009. The key question that Table 6.1 deals with is has your company experienced professional engineer skill shortages over the past 12 months? In the first 3 years shown in the Table, over 70% of companies reported that they had experienced professional engineer skill shortages during the preceding year. These results confirmed anecdotal information from Engineers Australia members. In the 2009 survey 53% of companies reported they had experienced professional engineer skill shortages.
26
Engineers Media, Engineers Australia Salary and Benefits Survey, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009, www.bookshop.engaust.com.au
53
THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010 Shortages remained more acute in the public than in the private sector but the patterns were very similar. These results show that skill shortages were eased by global economic conditions, but remained significant for half of companies surveyed.
TABLE 6.4 RECRUITING PROBLEMS EXPERIENCED AS A RESULT OF ENGINEERING SKILLS SHORTAGES (%) SURVEY SECTOR Longer recruiting Could not recruit Recruited different Paid higher than Could not recruit YEAR period than normal required skill set skill set for retraining expected salary at all 2006 PRIVATE 66 82 19 50 39 PUBLIC 65 83 17 29 58 TOTAL 66 82 18 42 46 2007 PRIVATE PUBLIC TOTAL PRIVATE PUBLIC TOTAL 65 57 64 48 70 52 82 71 80 75 67 74 72 71 72 29 21 28 26 10 23 20 20 20 60 43 58 42 20 38 35 22 32 42 29 40 34 53 37 29 44 32 Other 3 0 2 2 0 2 7 3 5 5 7 5
2008
PRIVATE 48 PUBLIC 61 TOTAL 51 Source: Engineers Australia Surveys
2009
TABLE 6.5 CONSEQUENCES OF ENGINEERING SKILLS SHORTAGES (%) SURVEY SECTOR Minor irritation but Moderate problem. Major problem incl Did not proceed YEAR no monetary issues Some monetary issues project delays & costs with available project 2006 PRIVATE 16 44 34 6 PUBLIC 4 31 60 6 TOTAL 12 39 43 6 2007 PRIVATE PUBLIC TOTAL PRIVATE PUBLIC TOTAL 9 21 10 18 3 16 39 50 40 42 50 43 45 34 43 44 29 42 32 37 33 26 39 28 9 0 7 8 10 8 9 5 8
2008
PRIVATE 31 PUBLIC 22 TOTAL 21 Source: Engineers Australia Surveys
2009
Table 6.4 shows how companies have adjusted recruitment practises to cope with the difficulties experienced. Despite the change in economic conditions, the pattern of reactions has not changed greatly over time. In 2009, 51% of companies took longer than normal to recruit engineers; 72% of companies could not recruit the required skill set; 20% of companies recruited a different skill set and then retrained recruits; 32% of companies paid higher than expected salaries; and 32% of companies could not recruit at all. The 2009 results reflect the unfavourable economic conditions immediately after the global financial crisis. Table 6.5 shows the consequences for companies who experienced engineering skills shortages. This table shows some changes reflecting economic times. More companies reported that the consequences were minor irritations with no monetary implications than in the past; the proportion of companies experiencing moderate consequences involving some monetary issues was remarkably stable; fewer companies experienced major problems involving project delays and cost increases than in the past; but a significant proportion of projects did not proceed due to the shortages.
54
FIGURE 6.2: ENGINEERING SKILLS SHORTAGES EXPERIENCED FOR DIFFERENT RESPONSIBILITY LEVELS
2006 80 2007 2008 2009
70
60
% OF RESPONDENTS
50
40
30
20
10
0 LEVEL 1 LEVEL 2 LEVEL3 LEVEL 4 LEVEL 5
FIGURE 6.3: ENGINEERING SKILL SHORTAGES BY DISCIPLINE

2006 90.0 2007 2008 2009
PROPORTION of RESPONSES (%)
80.0 70.0 60.0 50.0 40.0 30.0 20.0 10.0 0.0

Electrical Mechanical Civil Electronics, Computer etc Structural Environmental Mining Chemical
ENGINEERING DISCIPLINE
Figure 6.2 illustrates the pattern of engineering skills shortages experienced by responsibility level. In 2009, fewer companies reported skill shortages for engineers grades 1, 2 and 5. Grade 1 comprises engineers at the beginning of their careers and grade 2 comprises engineers with some, but still limited, experience; while grade 5 typically comprises senior executives. However, shortages of engineers grade 3 were relatively stronger than in the past and shortages of engineers grade 4 were as strong as there were prior to the global financial crisis. Figure 6.3 illustrates the distribution of engineering skills shortages across engineering disciplines. Consistent with the statistics in Table 6.2, all disciplines experienced lesser shortages than in the past, but none-the-less the specific discipline shortages experienced by companies remained comparatively high. No engineering discipline was reported to be in surplus. The highest shortages were in the key mainstream disciplines of civil engineers, mechanical engineers electrical engineers and structural engineers.
55
6.4 Relative Skills Shortage Index

The relative skills shortage index provides an insight into how new engineering university graduates are faring in the labour market compared to their colleagues in 23 other disciplines. The index measures the relationship between the number of engineering graduates looking for full time work and the number of graduates in total looking for full time work. Over time the economy moves cyclically. During tight economic conditions all graduates are likely to have an easier time in finding a job. Conversely, when the economy is experiencing difficulties, all graduates are likely to experience difficulties finding jobs. At any point in time some disciplines may experience greater or lesser difficulties in finding jobs irrespective of general economic circumstances. This is the basis of the relative skills shortage index. When engineering graduates experience precisely the same conditions in finding a job as all graduates, the index is set at 100. When engineering graduates experience greater difficulties in finding jobs than all graduates, that is, engineers are in relative surplus, the index is above 100. When engineering graduates experience fewer difficulties in finding jobs, that is, they are in relative shortage, the index is below 100. The degree of difference from 100 measures the intensity of the relative surplus or shortage.
TABLE 6.6 NEW GRADUATE ENGINEERS RELATIVE SKILLS SHORTAGE INDEX YEAR ENGINEERS SEEKING ALL GRADUATES SEEKING RELATIVE SKILL FULL TIME WORK (%) FULL TIME WORK (%) SHORTAGE INDEX 1999 14.3 19.2 74.5 2000 10.4 16.4 63.4 2001 12.6 17.0 74.1 2002 16.0 18.7 85.6 2003 14.6 19.9 73.4 2004 14.6 20.3 71.9 2005 12.6 19.1 66.0 2006 9.3 17.6 52.8 2007 8.6 15.5 55.5 2008 7.0 14.8 47.3 2009 13.2 20.8 63.5 Source: Estimated from statistics in Graduate Careers Australia, GradStats
TABLE 6.7 RELATIVE SKILLS SHORTAGES INDEX FOR ENGINEERING DISCIPLINES YEAR Aeronautical Chemical Civil Electrical Electronic Mechanical Mining Other 1999 45.3 91.7 49.0 51.0 79.2 112.5 57.3 80.2 2000 30.5 70.1 43.3 37.2 49.4 85.4 92.1 103.0 2001 133.5 92.4 44.7 50.6 64.1 82.9 82.9 115.3 2002 91.4 57.8 47.6 89.3 135.3 98.9 48.7 88.2 2003 80.9 62.3 28.6 89.9 133.2 64.3 29.6 68.3 2004 116.7 77.8 17.2 95.1 109.9 71.9 16.7 70.0 2005 57.1 88.5 22.5 66.5 113.6 55.0 6.3 68.6 2006 65.9 95.5 26.1 45.5 77.3 57.4 0.0 42.6 2007 51.0 89.0 14.2 65.2 84.5 53.5 8.4 52.9 2008 70.9 63.5 18.2 54.7 73.6 41.2 0.0 51.4 2009 103.8 82.7 26.9 74.5 104.3 66.3 37.0 53.4 Source: Estimated from statistics in Graduate Careers Australia, GradStats
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THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010 Table 6.6 shows the relative skills shortage index for engineers from 1999 to 2009. The index shows that there was a relative skills shortage for new engineering graduates throughout this period. Bear in mind that the unemployment rates in the Table were measured about 4 months after students completed their qualifications. The relative shortage was at its peak in 2008 when the index was 47.3. As the impacts of the global financial crisis were felt during 2009 the index eased to 63.5%. This result is consistent with the survey information discussed in the previous section. Although the relative skills shortage has been below 100 since 1999 for engineers as a group, this is not the case when the statistics are disaggregated into engineering disciplines. This information is shown in Table 6.7. The defintions for engineering disciplines are ones adopted by Graduate Careers Australia and do not necessarily line up with the ASCO or ANZSCO classification systems used by the ABS. Table 6.7 shows that embedded in an overall relative engineering skills shortage between 1999 and the present are periods of relative surplus for some engineering disciplines. The two notable disciplines are aeronautical engineering and electronic engineering. The latter category includes computer engineering in addition to electronic engineering. The major engineering disciplines that have figured in recent skills shortage experience were in shortage throughout the period shown (mechanical from 2000).
6.5 Surrogate Measures of Supply and Demand

This approach uses surrogates for the demand for, and supply of, engineers to approximate engineering skills shortages or surpluses relative to the baseline discussed in section 6.2. The baseline is the unemployment rate for qualified engineers in the 2006 Population Census. This was 2.95%, low compared to the general unemployment rate at the time (5.24%).
FIGURE 6.4: FORECASTED ENGINEERING CONSTRUCTION COMPARED TO CORRESPONDING GROWTH IN NEW DOMESTIC GRADUATES
NEW DOMESTIC GRADUATES 200.0 180.0 160.0 ENGINEERING CONSTRUCTION (June 2010)
INDEX (BASE YEAR 2005-06)
140.0 120.0 100.0 80.0 60.0 40.0 20.0 0.0 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18
The surrogate measure for the demand for engineers was the Construction Forecasting Councils estimates for engineering construction27. Actual ABS statistics are used up to and including 2008-09 and projections beyond then. The methodology used to obtain these projections is described on the Councils web-site. These statistics were converted from
27
www.cfc.acif.com.au , June 2010
57
THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010 monetary form to an index number with 2006-07 as base in line with the Census. The blue line in Figure 6.4 shows the index for the surrogate measure for the demand for engineers until 2017-18. The surrogate measure for the supply of engineers was the flow of domestic graduates holding acceptable engineering qualifications. Actual figures were used until 2008 and projections, based on the average growth between 2002 and 2008, for remaining years. To line up calendar year and financial year statistics, calendar years were aligned to the first half of financial years. These figures were also converted into index numbers with the same base as engineering construction. The red line in Figure 6.4 shows the index for the surrigate measure for the supply of engineers. It is clear from Figure 6.4 that there is a growing gap between these surrogate measures for the demand for and supply of engineers. This gap will need to be filled either by more rapid growth in domestic graduations of engineers or through expanded skilled migration.
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THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION

A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition, 2010

THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION

THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010

THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010

THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010

CONTENTS Page iii

THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010

THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION AND STATISTICAL MEASUREMENT

THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION AND STATISTICAL MEASUREMENT

1.1 The Purpose of the Statistical Handbook

1.2 The Engineering Profession

THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION AND STATISTICAL MEASUREMENT

THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION AND STATISTICAL MEASUREMENT

ABS, Australian Standard Classification of Education, 2001, p40, www.abs.gov.au

THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION AND STATISTICAL MEASUREMENT

1.4 Outline of the Statistical Handbook

THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION AND STATISTICAL MEASUREMENT

THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010

THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION AND STATISTICAL MEASUREMENT

UNIVERSITY COURSES IN ENGINEERING

2.1 Engineers Australias Role

2.2 Year 12 School Participation in Mathematics and Science

UNIVERSITY COURSE IN ENGINEERING

THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010

FIGURE 2.1: YEAR 12 PARTICIPATION IN MATHEMATICS IN AUSTRALIA

ADVANCED INTERMEDIATE OTHER LEVELS

10 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

UNIVERSITY COURSE IN ENGINEERING

FIGURE 2.2: YEAR 12 PARTICIPATION IN PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY IN AUSTRALIA

UNIVERSITY COURSE IN ENGINEERING

UNIVERSITY COURSE IN ENGINEERING

THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010

2008 499 268 1128 1050 11294 215 226 14680

226 140 1745 257 3859 77 10 6314

257 158 2850 148 4280 27 63 7783

264 203 2787 162 3936 42 42 7436

272 177 2579 294 3778 149 51 7300

361 178 2295 322 3854 164 73 7247

431 198 2528 303 4289 476 53 8278

573 179 2552 306 4463 455 63 8591

1072 447 3680 1356 15757 670 289 23271

2008 792 274 3000 1090 13376 532 187 19251

280 173 680 266 2381 138 102 4020

1072 447 3680 1356 15757 670 289 23271

UNIVERSITY COURSE IN ENGINEERING

THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010

499 268 1128 1050 11294 215 226 14680

226 140 1745 257 3859 77 10 6314

257 158 2850 148 4280 27 63 7783

264 203 2787 162 3936 42 42 7436

272 177 2579 294 3778 149 51 7300

361 178 2295 322 3854 164 73 7247

431 198 2528 303 4289 476 53 8278

573 179 2552 306 2381 455 63 6509

UNIVERSITY COURSE IN ENGINEERING

THE ENGINEERING PROFESSION; A Statistical Overview, Seventh Edition 2010

10000 OVERSEAS 8000 DOMESTIC

0 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

0 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

UNIVERSITY COURSE IN ENGINEERING

2500 OVERSEAS 2000 DOMESTIC

0 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 2001