Shortage of engineers?

Of course it's the corporations and diploma-mills (ie, colleges) howling "Engineering shortage!". They both want an oversupply of engineers chasing a limited number of jobs. More supply + less demand == lower salaries those who are out-of-work would be willing to take, as well as the larger number of unpaid hours per week willing to work.
Diploma-mills are only interested in cranking the largest number of students through the system, collecting 4yrs+ of ever-increasing tuition to do so, then sending them out into the workforce oblivious to the competition from H1Bs *also* out looking for the same job, and willing to put up with anything as far as working conditions just to stay here legally, as well as from similar-situationed bright-eyed students who stumble upon the harsh reality of the ever faltering economy.
What awaits them all is job *in*security, lower salaries, longer workdays/workweeks, and more.
If I had a young'un asking me whether/not to go into engineering, I'd answer with a definitive "*NO!*", unless he/she were willing to put up with all that to "do what he/she loves".

There are some tough stories out there about top level engineers unable to find jobs..however these are tough economic times for all. We at the ASTE believe that there are plenty of engineering jobs available worldwide but they may be in locations that we are not willing to work or are in new fields in which we have little to no experiences. There are many more reasons for engineering unemployment and it is not a simple problem to analyze. There are dozens of new engineering fields out there including nanotechnology, global warming, medical technologies, aerospace and DoD work, science education in rural areas, new company startups, international engineering management, etc. It may require taking additional courses, it may require relocation, but the skills involved in engineering are needed worldwide today as well as tomorrow.

Kirkland Ellis, one of Chicago's top law firms, has been laying off staff at all levels - even partner. There is no such thing as job security.

I agree with many of the comments, especially Rick. I have been consistently thwarted in my efforts to land a job the past few months because of the lack of some specific skill. I guess they are getting so many applicants that they figure this is a good way to weed people out. The problem is that they are relying on the dumb luck of finding someone who has had whichever job they want to fill before, rather than looking for the smart, creative engineers. I know I'm competing with people who don't have engineering degrees for jobs, yet getting passed over because in the IT world an engineering degree is basically meaningless.
I wouldn't recommend anyone going into the engineering world unless they think they really love it and want to dedicate their life to it. The complete lack of job security makes it into a very tough way to make a living.

I have done a lot of test automation, there are a lot of positions where I have all the experience they they want except the specific tool they are using. I'm sure I could be writing tests within a day and fairly proficient with the tool in a week.
The first thing some of these companies need is someone to validate their on line application system. I've spent more than 30 minutes copying information from my resume only to have the system lock up.
A previous company had a hard time finding new employees until our unemployment rate topped 10%. I'd try to talk friends into applying, but they had heard that the owner was painful to work for.

I agree with much that's been stated. In the US it's all about expanding the foreign worker programs (H1-B, L-1, etc.) and driving down wages. I could not recommend engineering to a youngster when they can make tons more as an investment banker on Wall Street stealing from others via elaborate legalized schemes. Altruism only goes so far with the current "Me" generation and to be honest I truly can't blame them for their overindulgent self absorption.

These commentators need to look at ground realities before passing on comments, as clearly mentioned here employers are getting mean not to pay anything if possible for "great job". Having seen condition of companies trying to save money its not very fruitful for future progress.

Four problems that I see in this area are a) lack of skills match, b) employers requiring that the candidate already be performing their position, down to the letter, for another employer or within the last few months, c) location mismatch and reluctance to relocate on either or both ends and d) depth of experience demanded is greater than the actual area (early in this decade, there were reqs for 5-7 years experience in Java where the maximum was 3-5 years, waiting on reqs for 3-5 years experience on the 2 year old Android platform!). Despite the satire, I am hearing of 'd' in green tech.

And there will continue to be a 'shortage' as long as college-smart kids figure out the hypocritical inconsistency of the current situation and keep opting for law, medicine, business, pharmacy, veterinarian,... any true professional career but the rough road to and questionable future of engineering.

Clearly a major benefit of continually beating the "STEM shortage" drum is to drive down STEM labor costs by importing more unneeded STEM labor. Thousands in American STEM labor pool unemployed, but the drum beat for higher H1 visa quotas continues.

This has been on the minds of many of us in the field as of late.
Some have suggested that this may be a ploy being used by industry to pressure the government into increasing the number of work Visa's so more low cost engineers can be "on-shored".
Although we would all like to believe otherwise, given the recent revelations of the goings-on behind corporate boardroom doors who would really be surprised if this in fact was the case?