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Competitiveness crisis overrated?
October 27, 2005

I recently cited figures on the number of engineers the US graduates annually vs. the number graduating in China and India. Those figures are called into question by columnist Carl Bialik in today's Wall Street Journal. The chief complaint seems to be that some of the Chinese engineering graduates may have only three-year degrees; there may also be irregularities in the India figures.

I address the issue of US vs. Chinese vs. Indian engineering competitiveness in my Editor's Note in the November print edition, which went to press before I saw today's WSJ item. Despite Bialik questioning of the original figures, I stand by my conclusion that the US needs a significant investment in technology education and R&D to justify the pay that US workers expect to get relative to their international competitors. An extra year of engineering education isn't sufficient to justify six- to eleven-fold salary premium.


Posted by Rick Nelson on October 27, 2005 | Comments (1)


November 4, 2005
In response to: Competitiveness crisis overrated?
Acceleron commented:

Salaries mostly relate to the standard of living in a given country. India and China have a minority population that can live by US standards of living; the vast majority is still living in what we call poverty (with less than $4 per day). Such salary discrepancies should come as no surprise if you study the economics behind them. I agree though that US, Canada, and most of western Europe needs to reconsider their position with regard to investment in R&D and science. Coming myself from an Eastern European country, I was amazed how little effort is being put into science and engineering on this continent (North America), and I can also totally understand the salary concerns expressed in the article. However, it's not fair to leave the standard of living out of the salary equation. Also, culture plays an important role: there are major differences between the consumerist society of the west and the more archaic, traditional societies of the east.





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