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ENGINEER SHORTAGE--OR JUST A SALARY SHORTFALL?You should look beyond the selfish cries of some company presidents and the congressmen beholden to them (''Send me your skilled workers,'' Editorials, May 25). As the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers recently testified before Congress, reports of a shortage of high-tech engineers are greatly exaggerated. Our country already has many highly qualified engineers who are underutilized simply because of their age. I found this out when several colleagues and I recently lost our engineering jobs due to a merger; we were disappointed to find very few offers to those of us in our 40s and 50s. Fortunately for me, a forward-looking company has retained me as a consultant, and a school of engineering now employs me, as well. But there are few companies and universities that add older engineers to their ranks, even while crying shortage. They cry because they want to keep salaries as low as possible. The right way to attract more people to engineering careers is to raise salaries. Immigrants have added greatly to our society, and I support high-tech immigration at present levels. But to increase the levels would be unfair to present engineers and engineering students.
John R. Brauer
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Updated June 4, 1998 by bwwebmaster
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