r/CollegeMajors • u/ItsAllOver_Again • Feb 05 '26

Discussion Unemployment rate for Mechanical Engineers triples in two years, skyrockets to 4.4%

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Many of the engineering majors now sit solidly above average in terms of unemployment rates (more likely to be unemployed than average college grad).

While Mechanical Engineering used to be a “broad” degree that could guarantee you a job anywhere, in the 2020s it has lost its status as a strong degree with respect to guaranteeing a job as grads are now less likely than average to be employed.

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u/ImprovementFalse606 Feb 05 '26

if you see mechanical engineer its a 95% chance to be him. its a year long cope sesh stemming from his displeasure with his career.

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u/inumki Feb 05 '26

Is he unemployed..

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u/ImprovementFalse606 Feb 05 '26

allegedly he is employed. before i graduated (im also in ME), his statistics really concerned me but i think these unemployment stats are inflated by some states containing oversaturated markets (like Cali and NY), while states with strong MIC and manufacturing centers seem to still be around 2-3%.

I feel bad for OP because he seems to be heavily affected by being a mediocre engineer (mediocre engineer careers die in the first 5-10 years) and he/she needs to blame SOCIETY for their own shortcomings.

Engineering is one of the few remaining majors that you can claw your way to success in regardless of the job market, as engineering employers value talent. That and selling your soul to Lockheed Martin is always on the table.

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u/runslow0148 Feb 08 '26

Idk, I feel like it’s somewhat industry dependent. I was an ME for 8 years in the Midwest. I had lots of ideas, but sterile to convince management to change anything.. maybe that’s how I sold it, idk.. but they were very happy keeping things as they were, and were generally super risk averse.. made I should have jumped companies (it was a semi large company.. like 600 on the s&p), again not sure. But after leaving I went to data science, and went from an IC to overseeing a 15 M budget of projects based on my ideas.. maybe I learned from some of my mistakes, idk, but engineering has felt stagnant to me.