The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates there were approximately 1.5 million engineers in the United States in 2009, if architects and engineering technicians are omitted from the Architecture and Engineering Occupations employment statistics. Of those 1.5 million engineers, 36.4 percent were employed in the manufacturing industry, while 30.9 percent were in the professional, scientific, and technical services sector.[1] The rest were distributed among the other major industries.
Approximately 9.1 percent of the nation’s nonfarm wage and salary employment was in the manufacturing sector in 2009; whereas, the percentage for the Wichita metro area was 19.8 percent. Consequently, one would suspect there might be a larger representation of engineers in the Wichita metro area than in many other metros across the nation.
In an effort to determine the validity of that assumption, the Center for Economic Development and Business Research gathered and analyzed engineering and population data for 223 metropolitan statistical areas. Read the summary of findings from that process.[1] U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2009 Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates, National Sector NAICS Industry-Specific Estimates, http://www.bls.gov/oes/oes_dl.htm.