2008 Salary Survey
2008 Salary Survey Invitation
In 1999, when Environmental Protection conducted its annual salary survey, the job outlook was characterized as "Too many dogs chasing too few bones." Eight years later, survey participants complained that the demand for environmental professionals was growing but supply was not. What a lovely problem for those sitting at the desk already. Or was it?
We hear the "too much work, too few workers" complaint annually. Is there anything you can do about it? You could try to carefully select who you work for, but you might have to do some soul-searching first. Would you rather have a fatter paycheck or a colleague to help manage the workload? Maybe you just want a job.
Here's the latest from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ "Occupational Outlook Handbook."
The bureau reports a good outlook for engineering job opportunities between 2006 and 2016, but these will vary by specialty. Environmental engineering is favored: The bureau expects employment growth of 25 percent during the projection period. More good news is that the National Association of Colleges and Employers say starting salaries for graduates with a bachelor's degree are relatively high, at about $48,000. Continuing education, however, is critical for continuing success.
Prevention rather than control is still the trend in environmental management, but now it seems to have gotten so much bigger with renewable energy, climate change, and sustainability making headlines. What's this business of being "green"? These additional challenges, along with population increases, drive growth in the job field which, according to the bureau, should remain steady even as new engineers graduate.
On the bad news side, the bureau reports that environmental engineers are not immune to economic downturns, which have in the past reduced emphasis on environmental protection.
While this information is valuable, it does not provide the comparative information we all like to digest: What salaries do different job titles, experience, and education command? So once again, we invite you to share insight from your field experience. Please tell us how the job market looks to you today by taking this year's survey.
If the link above doesn't work, you can take the survey by copying and pasting the following into your browser:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=7gk_2bAFt8Xeqgd1Hk0cS_2fdg_3d_3d