An Assessment of Personnel Needs and Supply in Electric Power Engineering

The health of any engineering industry is gauged in part by an assessment of its personnel needs and supply as well as the qualifications of the engineers involved. This assessment should be done not only in the short term (i.e., next 3-5 years), but also in the long term. This paper is a qualitative and quantitative assessment of the personnel needs and supply in the electric power industry. Problems related to personnel quality and, perhaps, long term supply have been identified. Approximately 5 percent of Electrical Engineering students in the United States are committed to power engineering. This figure had exhibited a significant downward trend since 1971. This downward trend is also observed in the committment of Electrical Engineering university faculties. While the data do not indicate disturbing consequences in the short term, there is a serious problem foreseen in the long term. The concern is not relegated to the raw number of graduates in power; there is a potential problem related to the flexibility of graduates. Applications of digital technology are especially important: new hires must be conversant with this technology, they must be willing to learn and study the requirements of power applications, and they must be qualified to solve problems of digital analysis and control.