Top Engineer Starting Salaries

• A 2010 CNBC article reports that recently graduated engineer majors are amongst the highest paid professionals. Chemical engineers started out earning $65,142 a year. Graduates who worked in petroleum engineering earned as much as $86,220 a year. Furthermore, engineers who worked in aerospace and aeronautical industries received beginning salaries that averaged $57,231 a year. Industrial and manufacturing firms paid newly hired engineers $57,734 a year, while mechanical engineers took home $58,392 a year.
  
  

A Growing Trend

• As of May 2008, the United States Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the highest paying industry for engineers was petroleum engineers, a trend that remained unchanged two years later as revealed in the CNBC article. In 2008 petroleum engineers earned $83,121 a year. The next top paying industries for engineers were chemical, mining and mineral and computer. These industries paid engineers $64,902, $64,404 and $61,738 a year, respectively.
  
  

Average Salaries by Specialty Field

• The United States Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the top 10 percent of petroleum engineers earned higher annual wages than their counterparts working in other fields. For example, as of May 2008, the top 10 percent of petroleum engineers earned $166,400 a year, followed by computer hardware engineers who earned as much as $148,590 a year. Lowest salaries earned by engineers were paid to marine and naval architects; the bottom 10 percent of these professionals took home $43,070 a year. They were followed by agricultural engineers; the bottom 10 percent of these engineers earned $43,150 a year.
  
  

Job Outlook

• From 2008 through 2018, the United States Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics expects engineering jobs to grow at about the same pace as jobs in other career fields. Engineers should experience an 11 percent job growth during the decade. Working in research and development and consulting services industries can help new engineers to land employment. Additionally, engineers who return to college or university and get graduate degrees can increase their chances of landing higher paying jobs.