<p>It’s quite possible that’s localized. The Washington Post had an article saying the average starting salary of civil engineers this year is up 6.4% from last year (<a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/22/AR2008072202709.html)%5B/url%5D”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/22/AR2008072202709.html)</a>. I just got a full-time position this year and even got a signing bonus to go along with my offer. Everybody that I knew at my undergrad and grad school that made a half-decent effort had a job lined up months before graduation easily. Many hiring managers complain about the lack of qualified engineers. </p>
<p>New York City just spent $4 million to hire engineers to do a study regarding construction safety. </p>
<p>People taking offers that are lower than last year’s median salary should be expected at all schools everywhere. Heck, half the people last year got offers less than the median salary. You can’t expect the worst offer this year to be better than the 50th% offer last year. </p>
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<p>I don’t know how you’re defining “applicants” but if you count everyone that just throws a resume into the box, I don’t doubt you, but I think that’s the norm. Also, people tend to apply to many many jobs, which would explain the high ratio. It’s not uncommon for someone to send their resume to dozens of companies. </p>
<p>I’m sure the market was better last year than this with the residential crisis we have now. I’m not surprised if people working for production home builders like Pulte get laid off, but it’s not a long-term trend. The world population keeps on growing, which means there will be a greater demand for civil engineers to design and build housing and infrastructure. </p>
<p>What makes me believe this is a localized issue is that I have never heard about this issue being raised from national ASCE, nor have I seen any news articles even hinting at this.</p>