Contact: Chris McManes Older
Engineers Face Longer Unemployment, WASHINGTON (27 September 2002) — Older electrical and electronics engineers are out of work longer than their younger peers and cite age as a barrier to re-employment, the 2002 IEEE-USA Unemployment Survey reveals. For each additional year of age, unemployment duration increases 1.3 weeks. But using three variations of multiple regression estimates and seven control variables, the impact of age was more dramatic. In this case, for each additional year, joblessness rises by three weeks. Additionally, those reporting age as a barrier to reentering the workforce face longer lengths of unemployment (55 weeks) than those who do not (30 weeks). Dr. Laura Langbein, a professor of public affairs at The American University in Washington, D.C., analyzed and reported the results. The entire report is available at http://www.ieeeusa.org/careers/survey/2002results.pdf. "Overall, age appears to have a persistent effect on the duration of unemployment," Langbein wrote, "but it cannot be determined from these surveys whether that is attributable to productive differences, price differences, the supply of engineers, age discrimination, or some other factor." The survey, which IEEE-USA has conducted four times, the last in 1998, was mailed to the 2,955 U.S. IEEE members who reported being unemployed at some time during the 2001-02 membership year. The responses totaled 758, or 26 percent. The survey also revealed that each additional year of experience helps to reduce unemployment by two weeks. For example, when comparing two engineers of the same age (say 55), one with 30 years experience vs. one with 25, the engineer with more experience has 10 fewer weeks of joblessness. When comparing two engineers, one 55 and one 60, both with 30 years experience, the older engineer can expect to endure 15 more weeks of unemployment than his younger peer. Both examples assume that the engineers are comparable in all other respects, including education. IEEE-USA is an organizational unit of The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers created in 1973 to promote the careers and public-policy interests of the more than 235,000 electrical, electronics, computer and software engineers who are U.S. members of the IEEE. The IEEE is the world's largest technical professional society. For more information, go to http://www.ieeeusa.org. 1828 L Street, N.W., Suite 1202 Washington, DC 20036-5104 Phone: 202-785-0017, Fax: 202-785-0835 | Top of Page | News Releases | IEEE News | IEEE | IEEE-USA | Last Updated: 26
August 2002 |