Did You Know?
More students applied to University of Kentucky’s Engineering Program than any other school in Kentucky, with
15,153 total applicants.
Kentucky is putting a lot of time and attention in growing its engineering related sectors, and according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, it’s working.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that almost all of the engineering fields are increasing in their employment rates, with biomedical engineering leading the way at 47.3%. Whereas, the Kentucky Workforce projects that environmental engineering has the best future outlook in the state.
Some of the larger employers in Kentucky that hire engineering professionals include: Cincinnati Intl AIRPORT-CVG, GFS Marketplace, Humana Inc, Uk Chandler Hospital, Toyota Motor Mfg Kentucky Inc, UPS Worldport, Ford Motor Co Truck Plant, GE Appliances, A All Appliance Repair Svc, Corrections Department, King’s Daughters Home Health, Lexmark International Inc, Ford Motor Co Assembly Plant, Toyota Motor Engineering & Mfg, Corporex Co LLC, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, Human Resources Cabinet, Northern Kentucky University.
Engineering Education in Kentucky
Despite Kentucky’s strong agricultural base, it offers many fine engineering programs in its colleges and universities. Many students get their associate degrees at smaller two-year colleges, such as Brown Mackie College in Louisville, before finishing their schooling at a college or university, including Murray State University and Northern Kentucky University.
The University of Kentucky offers several engineering degrees, including Agricultural Engineering, Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering, Chemistry Engineering and more.
Outlook for Engineering Jobs in Kentucky
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) forecasts that from 2010 to 2020 in general the job growth rate for engineers will be average or slightly below normal. Although the 2012 BLS report on occupations in Kentucky did not list many engineering jobs, it does find that the West Kentucky nonmetropolitan area has the highest employment of chemical engineers for all rural areas in the United States.
That area ranks third in rural areas for employment of civil engineers. The Lexington-Fayette metropolitan area places in the top ten metropolitan areas for mean average wages for electrical engineers. With these strong employment numbers, Kentucky is one of the states that may offer higher than normal employment rates for various fields of engineering. Other strong areas of engineering in Kentucky are the mining and geological fields and the health and safety fields