Demand for qualified industrial engineers has been on the rise as manufacturers across North America are retooling for new opportunities and reorganizing local supply chains to avoid the impact of near constant global disruptions.
The hunt for these specific skillsets shows the importance of engineering to the manufacturing economy, and the salaries and signing bonuses are growing.
Lincoln Electric, a manufacturer of arc welding, cutting and associated automation, this week announced plans to hire more than 75 industrial engineers. The company says some of these positions will handle existing products while others will support the design and manufacture DC fast charge EV chargers for the U.S. market.
"These engineering positions represent an opportunity to work on existing Lincoln Electric priorities and initiatives as well as new technologies in the EV charging space," said Steve Sumner, vice-president of corporate innovation at Lincoln Electric, said in a release. "Engineers who enjoy deep technical analysis, product rollouts, project management, customer interaction – or all of the above – will find Lincoln Electric a great place to work."
In addition to competitive pay and benefits, Lincoln Electric is offering a signing bonus of up to $10,000 to work in technology hubs in Detroit, Cleveland and Columbus. The company is looking for the following specialties:
- Power Electronics Engineer
- Embedded Firmware Engineer
- Mechanical Engineer
- Process Engineer
- Electrical Engineer
- Controls Engineers
Lincoln isn’t alone in seeking more engineers. The U.S. Department of Energy recently announced a plan to hire nine engineers to launch two new programs the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) office. The focus will be on improving energy and material efficiency, productivity, and competitiveness in manufacturing, including driving industrial decarbonization.
These announcements are just part of a trend highlighting the growing importance of industrial engineering to manufacturing success. Indeed, the world’s largest database of jobs postings, says the number of postings for industrial engineering positions has been on the rise since the first quarter of 2020. At the end of September 2022, job postings on Indeed.com for industrial engineers were 68.7 percent higher than in February 2020, which the company uses as the pre-COVID lockdown baseline. Indeed.com says the average base salary for an industrial engineer in the U.S. is $78,590 annually, but that depends on where you work. Here’s a comparison of average engineering salaries in different cities, as reported by Indeed.com:
- New York, N.Y.: $91,157 per year
- Alameda, Calif.: $88,542 per year
- Hartford, Conn.: $85,692 per year
- Chicago, Ill.: $85,387 per year
- Detroit, Mich.: $81,313 per year
- Everett, Wash.: $80,684 per year
- Houston, Texas: $80,353 per year
- Fort Wayne, Ind.: $71,948 per year
- Pascagoula, Miss.: $70,035 per year
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show the unemployment rate in manufacturing sitting at 2.8 percent in September 2022, down from 3.9 percent from September 2021. There were 9.046 million people employed in manufacturing production in September 2022. That’s 20,000 more workers than the previous month and a significant increase from September 2021, which saw 8,641 million people employed in manufacturing.
Learn more about the DOE hiring here.