Engineers optimistic about industry comeback: is the electronics industry on the road to an economic recovery? Our annual salary survey seems to indicate it's true.(SALARY SURVEY)(Industry overview)

There was a time when a 5% salary increase was considered standard, even ordinary. With the advent of the 21st century, everything changed. For the last several years, the electronics industry has seen little or no salary increases. But what a difference a year makes.

Last year's EE-Evaluation Engineering salary survey showed an encouraging but modest rise in salary with a 2.7% increase. However, this year's results can be called remarkable in today's working environment. After years of median salaries hovering in the $70,000 range, this year's survey takers reported a $5,000 increase from last year's $75,000 to a median salary of $80,000, a 6.6% increase.

Almost 650 EE readers participated in this year's salary survey and not only reported optimistic results in salary increases but also insight on job security and satisfaction, career issues, web seminars, and median pay compared with job function, education, years in industry, and geographical region.

"The electronics industry is making a comeback," said Dat Nguyen of Texas Instruments. "In my workplace, business and salaries have picked up. We are hiring a lot, and this has pushed salaries up," he said.

Mr. Nguyen, a failure analysis engineer located in Dallas, is glad to see salaries on the rise because, for him, good pay relates to happiness in the workplace. "Salary is one of the most important factors in job satisfaction," he said. "I need to be perceived as well paid or adequately compensated compared to my peers in the same profession."

Money Isn't Everything

The 2006 salary survey showed that 85% of the respondents were either satisfied or very satisfied with their current job and 76% with their overall career. …

To read the full text of this article and others like it, subscribe today!