New figures from the IEEE show that unemployment for engineers worsened significantly in the second quarter, climbing to 5.5% from 3.9% in the first quarter of 2009. While still well below the national average unemployment rate of 9.5%, the unemployment rate for engineers is increasing faster than for the economy as a whole. This may be as a result of employers trying to keep their engineering staff during the first quarter in hopes of a quicker recovery than now seems likely.

While the engineering unemployment rate may be modest compared to other economic groups in America, this increase in unemployment impacts many thousands of engineers, their families and communities. The figures are of course, much worse in some markets than in others. The worst segments of the country for increased unemployment in May were in California, Florida, Michigan and Texas, while pockets of the northeast actually added a few jobs, including Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Some analysts have quoted the engineering employment rate as a leading indicator for recovery, saying that hiring engineers demonstrates that companies are investing in new products and processes. If that’s the case, the entire economy is dependent on getting these engineers back to work as soon as possible.