Indeed, some of the engineers surveyed by Electronic Times want to go so far as to recommend engineering to many other children. "Electronics engineering as a profession needs to be marketed more vigorously to attract new talent to the profession. This should start at the schools. If Britain cannot compete in this industry because of a lack of raw materials, i.e. people, then the prosperity of the nation will suffer," one respondent commented.

Respondents' age was a factor in how enthusiastically they embraced the profession. Among those under 35, 71 percent said they believe engineering is a career with a lucrative future. Among those aged 50 and over, only 56 percent called engineering a lucrative career.

On the whole, respondents said the U.K. industry has fared better than its counterparts in other countries. The majority (79 percent) declared that their salaries had risen over the last 12 months.

The average annual salary in the industry is $52,800, an increase of 4.3 percent over last year's $50,600 figure. The 1999 salary was $49,000. This year's jump is a marked departure from the situation in the United States, where salaries were essentially flat this year.

The caveat is that the U.K. market tends to lag its U.S. counterpart by six to nine months. Still, some respondents appeared confident of the market's relative soundness.

"The U.K. engineering economy does not seem to be suffering in the same way as the U.S. [economy]," a director of a company involved with components and subassemblies said during the summer. The executive conceded that "increased unemployment due to large layoffs has brought down the salary pressures on companies" but added, "The U.K. economy appears to be able to survive the U.S. flu, and I share the opinion of most people that the worldwide semiconductor economy will turn around sometime toward the end of 2001."

The market that has seen the highest percentage of pay increases has been the military/aerospace sector, where 93 percent reported having received a raise. Most of the staff engineers in this market — 82 percent — received pay increases, as did 71 percent of the managers responding from this sector. Among the age categories, those in the 50+ age range received the fewest raises as a percentage of the total reporting in that category — 72 percent — while 86 percent of respondents in the under-35 category reported having received raises.

When asked to describe their base salary, exactly half the respondents in all markets described their salaries as comparable to those of others in the field with similar qualifications and work experience. Only 9 percent believed they were being paid more than others in their field, and 42 percent thought they were receiving less than others in similar circumstances. The disparity split between management and staff responses on all of these levels was less than 5 percent.

By market sector, just over half — 51 percent — of the respondents involved in military/aerospace work believed they were being paid less than others in their field. In the computers/computer peripherals area, 28 percent believed they were underpaid.

"Engineers should get more pay, considering first that their pay is not comparable with [pay in] other fields that are not involved with engineering but require the same level of qualifications. Second, the retirement rate is higher than the influx to the field from, for example, universities. Unless something is done, the U.K. will suffer badly in the near future as the numbers of qualified engineers declines quickly," one engineer responded.

The good news this year was that only 2 percent of respondents had received a pay cut. Workers in the 50+ age bracket were the most likely to have received a pay cut (5 percent), while 1 percent of both the under-35 and the 35-49 age ranges had been asked to get by on less money. The market sector that was hit the hardest by pay cuts was test, measurement and instrumentation, with 4 percent of those employed in this sector having seen a cut in pay.

"I am now only able to survive on present salary and benefits while interest rates stay low," one engineer commented.

And a principal engineer involved in board-level design for the military/aerospace sector said companies are clueless when it comes to recruitment. "Major companies are paying insufficient salaries to maintain people but cannot understand why they are not able to recruit," he said.

Among the 18 percent whose companies implemented salary freezes and the 5 percent whose companies had implemented salary cutbacks, the worst-affected seemed to be those in the computer markets. Twenty-four percent of those who responded from this market had seen their salaries frozen, and 8 percent had seen their salaries cut back.

There was encouraging news about bonuses related to personal or company performance. Fifty-two percent of respondents reported having received bonuses in the past 12 months, with 50 percent of staff and 56 percent of management making a financial gain. Those working in the components market fared the best, with 65 percent of workers in that field having received bonuses. By age group, 57 percent of those under 35 received bonus compensation, compared with 49 percent of older workers.

Among those who received bonuses, 22 percent reported having received less than $1,000, 25 percent received between $1,000 and $2,800, 20 percent were given between $4,400 and $7,700, 10 percent were offered between $6,700 and $10,400, 7 percent were rewarded with between $10,400 and $15,400 and, finally, 11.2 percent were given $20,700 or more.

Most of those who reported bonuses of less than $3,000 were staff as opposed to management. In the $3,000 to $5,200 bracket, the bonuses were fairly evenly distributed between management and staff. As might be expected, managers dominated the final bonus bracket ($28,400), at 25.6 percent, compared with 4.9 percent of staff.

Stephanie Gordon is community leader for www.theworkcircuit.com.