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Since the last business peak, 8.4 million jobs have been lost in the United States. In May, there were 15 million unemployed. The official unemployment rate ignores workers who have given up looking for work, those with part-time jobs who can’t find full-time jobs, and workers who settled for work they found outside their skill set. The numbers are discouraging, but are we headed in the right direction?

As in past years, this annual survey examines the outlook in eight areas of significant import to the U.S. endeavor: technology, energy, climate change, work force, employment benefits, immigration, infrastructure and the economy.

A valuable, but little known, resource tracing the development of electronics for defense, space and other applications is located near the Thurgood Marshall Baltimore-Washington International Airport and the BWI Rail station.

Government regulations are planned to dictate a corporate average fuel economy standard of 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016, four years sooner than Congress decreed in the 2007 energy law. How will manufacturers manage to meet the new standard without compromising safety?

Planning to refight the last war has been an often-repeated mistake. But the U.S. Navy is getting out front with the development of a new ship class capable of modular reconfiguration to cope with various threats. The new ship is called the Littoral Combat Ship. At least fifty-five of these ships are planned, expected to be 17 percent of the total future fleet.

The Waxman-Markey bill, promoting energy efficiency and reduction in pollutants thought to be responsible for climate change, narrowly passed the House in June, 219 to 212. What happens next?

Every year in the United States, vehicle accidents result in more than 42,000 fatalities. This statistic has remained about constant over the past decade, even though the vehicle miles traveled has grown by 21 percent, to more than three trillion in 2006. Advances in intelligent transportation systems have the potential to ease congestion and improve safety on the nation's highways.

Plans for upgrading the electric grid and adding renewable energy resources got a boost with the stimulus package, which includes $4.5 billion for low voltage smart grid pilot projects and $6.5 billion for existing wiring repair and maintenance — a total of $11 billion.

After the economic freefall of 2008, when the Standard & Poor’s 500 index fund plummeted 39.8 percent, and American family wealth fell by 18 percent, many professionals are looking to rebuild their 401(k) plans and IRAs, perhaps also altering their retirement plans.

There are at least 70 million Millennials in the United States, and they constitute 21 percent of our work force — 32 million workers. How should management approach working with today's young engineers?

The growth of high-density commercial wireless systems has increased harmful interference to 700-800 MHz public safety communication systems (such as police, fire and emergency rescue). To cope with this, the FCC in July 2004 adopted a comprehensive plan to reconfigure the band, using digital television (DTV) to increase both capacity and quality.

IEEE-USA editor for technology policy George McClure looks at the prospects for technology, energy, climate change, work force, employment benefits, immigration, infrastructure and the economy in the new year.

More than 300 IEEE delegates convened at the triennial Sections Congress in Quebec City to learn, and to arrive at their own recommendations to bring forward to the IEEE Board of Directors to guide future directions.

As oil nudged $140 per barrel, there was a ground swell of interest in more offshore drilling. But other options — including smart grid and nuclear power — warrant consideration when it comes to ensuring the nation's future energy supply and independence from foreign oil.

A Perfect Storm described the confluence of three storm systems in the north Atlantic. In demographics and retirement security, we have another perfect storm, with the third element being greater longevity in retirement.

RFID has been a rapidly-adopted technology, largely on the basis of its potential for saving costs and improving productivity in distribution and consumer transactions. The market is estimated at $5 billion now, growing to over $25 billion by 2017.

In the short term, forecasting is hard to do, matching a development with a timeline. That said, IEEE-USA's government relations editor George McClure provides an overview of changes and trends in eight categories that are likely to affect all of us, in one way or another, in 2008: technology, energy, climate change, workforce, employment benefits, immigration, infrastructure and the economy.

The topic may seem dull, but technology export controls are vital to U.S. security and competitiveness. Technology that could help other nations compete with the United States if released — or that could be useful to terrorists — is subject to export controls. The rub comes in weighing the needs of U.S. innovators for greater sales versus the harm to the national interest if the technology is divulged.

U.S. ports handle more than 2 billion tons of domestic and import/export cargo per year, $1.3 billion worth of goods move in and out of U.S. ports every day. Interference with their function would be disruptive to the U.S. economy. However, terrorist activity could destroy port facilities or use them as a channel to move materials into the United States for other destinations.

Intellectual property — original creations whether in hardware design, software engineering, or art (literary works, musical compositions, trademarks, or performance art) — is a key to national competitiveness. However, respect for intellectual property rights, and their duration, varies around the world.

There is general agreement that the secret to maintaining U.S. competitiveness is innovation. Commodity manufacturing will move offshore but, the reasoning goes, if the United States is first to market with new technology, it will maintain a leading position among its competitors. But are we doing enough?

Few could foresee, when radio-telephony was in its infancy, the extent to which the mobile telephone (the name applied when the electronics was so bulky that a vehicle was required to carry it) would evolve into the personal cell phone and then the revolution in other applications for the service.

IEEE-USA's Technology Policy Editor George McClure dons his prognosticator's hat to provide a look at the year ahead. He shares insights on eight topics that may affect your career in 2007: technology, energy, climate change, workforce, employment benefits, immigration, infrastructure and the economic outlook.

Medicare is the 800-pound gorilla in the room that people ignore, when looking at the smaller problem of future funding for Social Security. The aging of our population, as birth rates decline and life expectancy increases, is the most significant demographic force that will shape our economy and society in the coming decades. How well we deal with the funding issue will affect the extent to which we push costs forward to future generations. Saving more now can reduce their future burden.

Get to know a little bit about one of IEEE-USA's most active and respected volunteers.

Now that the national unemployment rate is down to 4.7 percent, and in some areas of the country, 3 percent, the pendulum is swinging from concerns over where currently displaced engineers and computer scientists can find work to how we will meet the future demands for talent. A continuing concern of IEEE-USA's Career and workforce Policy Committee is that predicting future demand is a precarious task. A look at the Department of Labor's latest forecasts for workforce demand through 2014.

An invitation to become a member of an organization's board of directors is a recognition of personal and business excellence. Before accepting, however, it is important to have a full understanding of the role and its responsibilities.

A disconnect seems to exists between the arcane and esoteric realm of basic research — conducted in secretive labs by cloistered engineers and scientists — and the familiar and ubiquitous technologies we take for granted today. But the fact is, many of the technologies we utilize daily were born in those very same labs.

Despite lean R&D budgets and hurricane-ravaged facilities, NASA plans to move ahead with its ambitious goals to develop a new Crew Exploration Vehicle that will return manned crews to the moon and later to Mars.

Now that we're four years past the end of the last recession, what lies ahead in 2006? TE examines changes and trends in eight categories that are likely to affect all of us in one way or another in the new year: technology, energy, climate change, workforce, employment benefits, immigration, infrastructure and the economic outlook.

The deadline for the transition to digital television has been pushed back to April 2009, giving lawmakers and the FCC more time to decide what to do with the analog spectrum that will be returned shortly after the transition is complete.

Productivity improvements have contributed to the trend to move engineers from the commodity category to the “skilled artist” category. But there are many jobs where engineers are interchangeable, and those are the jobs in the greatest danger of being outsourced.

While NASA has slowed its space flight program, private companies and investors, spurred by high-stakes competitions like the Ansari X Prize, are pushing ahead with their commercial space programs toward the promise of even greater payoffs.

Before 9/11, airport security consisted of a ticket agent asking you if you packed your bag yourself, if it had been in your continuous custody since you packed it, and whether you had been given anything to carry aboard by an unknown stranger. Today we wait longer and must endure additional scrutiny, but what has really changed? And are we safer?

Funding for health sciences has doubled within five years, but the physical sciences and engineering have not been nearly as fortunate in increasing R&D funding. How will the Department of Energy's 18 national labs — which constitute 40 percent of the total national funding for physics, chemistry, materials science and other areas of the physical sciences — fare in the coming years?

If nothing is done, the Hubble will likely fail catastrophically by 2008. Although it has led to some of the most significant discoveries in recent history, NASA has no current plans to send either a manned or a robotic rescue mission to extend Hubble's life. Does it really matter?

While the payroll tax for Social Security is bringing in more money than is being paid out now, by 2018 that situation is expected to reverse as fewer workers contribute and more retirees draw benefits. Everyone's talking about it... but what's getting done?

Long-term comparisons of the household savings rates of Europe, Japan and the United States reveal that, although all three have been trending downward, the Japanese are saving twice the amount — Europeans four times — as the United States. Given the questions swirling around the future of Social Security, and facing a declining number of traditional employer-maintained defined benefit pension plans, are we saving enough for retirement?

The United States is doing well with energy conservation. Data for the most recent three years show that growth in electric energy demand has been only half the growth in Gross Domestic Product. But reliability improvements have lagged behind, resulting in increased incidence of blackouts.

The World Trade Organization's (WTO) 148 member countries established a General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) in hopes that it will encourage liberalization of trade in service markets, including engineering services. The goal is to stimulate economic growth, but definitions remain fuzzy and many proposals — including the U.S. proposal — aren't available for public review. What implications could GATS have on the careers of U.S. engineers?

Just as you get regular checkups from your physician, you should revisit your retirement planning before the end of every year. What can you to now to maximize your savings both now and down the road?

Of the estimated 8 million to 10 million illegal aliens in the United States today, nearly 40 percent are here because they overstayed their non-resident visas. In 1986, Congress issued an amnesty window, giving nearly 3 million illegal aliens legal immigrant status. Advocates are calling for another such amnesty. Might a “blue card” program be more effective?

Employers began offering health care insurance as an employee benefit during World War II, in response to imposed wage and price controls, which limited employers’ ability to attract desirable employees by offering them more salary. They could afford the costs for these benefits when the costs rose only as quickly — and in proportion to — the general inflation rate. The burden, however, is now shifting to employees.

More and more, companies hoping to improve their bottom lines are taking advantage of lower labor costs offshore. In fact, high-tech job outsourcing has become a staple in today’s corporate environment. How much do employers really gain, and what effect is this trend having on engineers and other high-tech professionals?

ERISA established the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) to pay benefits to defined-benefit pension plan participants when their employers cannot. While PBGC has sufficient assets to pay benefits for several years, the organization’s deficit continues to grow as it pays out larger and larger claims. We should make fundamental changes to the defined benefit system now, before PBGC’s deficit reaches a crisis point.

The IEEE’s Code of Ethics has retained the fundamental principles detailed in the Code first adopted by the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) in 1912. Meanwhile, business practices have changed, society’s needs have changed, and engineers’ roles in business have changed. In light of the world in which we live and work today, could it be time to consider modifications?

Increased demand for high-tech personnel with security clearances and a growing backlog of security clearance investigations has brought attention to the lengthy clearance process. Is going through the time-consuming process worth it?

The National Science Board (NSB) considers U.S. strength in science and engineering as being in “potential peril.” NSB has endorsed an imperative for the federal government to ensure the adequacy of the U.S. science and engineering workforce, partly by increasing the number of Americans pursuing science and engineering studies and careers. Is this strategy really the way to go?

It wasn’t until 1967 that the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) made age discrimination in the U.S. workplace illegal. ADEA was intended to protect workers aged 40 and older, but the growing body of age discrimination cases indicates that it has not served its purpose.

Position statements serve as the basis for IEEE-USA’s legislative agenda and represent the authority for the policies advocated on behalf of IEEE’s U.S. members. How does a position become one? And should we limit policy advocacy to technology issues only or do career policy issues still deserve our voice?

While still faced with a funding crisis, Amtrak keeps rolling along. Can the national rail system generate a profit? What changes may be in store in the near future and how will they affect the organization and its passengers?

With the glory days seemingly behind the U.S. aerospace industry, should we continue to invest in funding and talent? The President’s Commission on the Future of the Aerospace Industry thinks so, and it outlined several recommendations to strengthen the weakened sector.

Unless Congress says otherwise, come 1 October, the 195,000 temporary (H-1B) guest worker visa quota will revert to its original level of 65,000 per year. What does this mean for U.S. engineers and scientists — and the public?

IEEE-USA was among six engineering societies that sponsored a two-day symposium in March to review federal R&D plans and budgets, to carry a message to Congress about the need for more R&D funding. Many participants visited federal agency leaders to talk about issues. Find out what they had to say.

We have come to take for granted the availability of a safe and sophisticated aviation transportation system. But as federal support for aviation research has declined in the United States, foreign governments are increasing support for their programs. Leading-edge technology will determine the winners in the global competition, and technology advances will depend on national will, available capital and specific investments... more

The tragic loss of the space shuttle Columbia dramatizes problems that have long existed in the aerospace industry. Faced with an aging orbiter fleet, canceled R&D programs and eroding business opportunities, what does the future hold for NASA?

Prior to 1980, federal R&D expenditures exceeded those of industry. Since the end of the Cold War, however, federal R&D spending has declined while industry expenditures have nearly doubled. Is R&D supported adequately, and is it still a driving force behind the nation's economy?

Some 200 members of the U.S. science, engineering and technology community participated in the 7th SET Congressional Visits Day (CVD), on 5-6 March. CVD is a great way for U.S. IEEE members to get involved in the legislative process...

America's 'Big Three' automakers have participated in a government-sponsored, cost-share program to develop cost-effective, viable alternatives to gas-powered vehicles. To date, none offer such a vehicle on the market. Should taxpayers continue to fund such efforts indefinitely?

A decision that will be made in 2002 could end the life of Amtrak's intercity passenger rail service in the United States. Can Amtrak pull itself out of trouble at the eleventh hour? Should the federal government play a role in Amtrak's survival?

Four million U.S. workers telecommute. Find out the policies and perils before hanging up your driving gloves.

Deregulation of the electric power industry has drawn both cheers and jeers. What are the benefits and what are the costs? What do consumers ultimately want? What do you think about the issue?