Engineers Remain In High Demand Despite Downturn.

Engineers Remain In High Demand Despite Downturn.

The Wall Street Journal (12/23, Needleman) reports, "While the employment landscape looks sparse right now, the outlook for 2009 isn't uniformly bleak." Experts note that, "in the medical field, there aren't enough nurses, home-health aides, medical assistants and pharmacy technicians to fill vacancies at health-care providers, such as hospitals and clinics." Engineers are also in demand, particularly "those who specialize in environmental, biomedical, civil, aerospace and industrial engineering." Art Lucas, chief executive officer of Lucas Group, explained, "Companies still need people who can come in and design products. ... The manufacturing process also needs to be efficient, so people who have those technical engineering skills are always in demand." Further, "more engineering jobs...are likely to open up in the next year or so, thanks to a proposed stimulus by the incoming presidential administration that will focus on improving infrastructure."