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By Stephanie Gordon The Work Circuit May 6, 2002 (3:05 p.m. EST) Employment in science and engineering occupations is expected to increase at about three times the rate for all occupations between 2000 and 2010, according to Science and Engineering Indicators 2002 , prepared by a division of the National Science Foundation. Although the economy as a whole is expected to provide approximately 15 percent more jobs in the current decoade over the previous decade, employment opportunities for science and engineering (S&E) jobs are expected to increase by about 47 percent, or about 2.2 million jobs. According to the report, approximately 86 percent of the increase in S&E jobs is likely to occur in computer-related occupations. Overall employment in these occupations across all industries is expected to increase by about 82 percent between 2000 and 2010, adding almost 1.9 million new jobs. The number of jobs for computer software engineers is expected to double from 697,000 to 1.4 million, and employment for computer systems analysts is expected to grow from 431,000 to 689,000 jobs. Within engineering, environmental engineering is projected to have the biggest relative employment gains, increasing by 14,000 jobs, or about 27 percent for the period. Computer hardware engineering is also expected to experience above-average employment gains, growing by 25 percent. Employment for all engineering occupations is expected to increase by less than 10 percent, the study said. Job opportunities in life science occupations are projected to grow by almost 18 percent or 33,000 new jobs over the 2000-to-2010 period; medical science occupations are expected to experience the largest growth, at 27 percent or 10,000 new jobs. Employment in physical science occupations is expected to increase by about 18 percent (from 239,000 to 283,000 jobs); slightly less than one-half of these projected job gains are for environmental scientists (21,000 new jobs). A breakdown of projected job growth by all occupations can be viewed here. |