September 07, 2001 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Keeping the environment clean

Median annual earnings for environmental engineers were $54,890 in 1999. They held over 50,000 jobs, mostly with the Federal, State or local government.

[Chart data—TXT]

The middle 50 percent of environmental engineers earned between $43,210 and $68,080. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $35,790, while the highest 10 percent earned more than $83,730.

Environmental engineers use principles of biology and chemistry to develop ways to solve problems related to the environment. They are involved in both local and global environmental protection efforts such as air and water pollution control, recycling, and waste disposal.

These data are a product of the Occupational Employment Statistics program. For further information see "Environmental Engineers," by Azure Reaser, Occupational Outlook Quarterly, Fall 2001. Note about the chart: deciles divide the dataset into 10 equal-size groups and quartiles divide the dataset into 4 equal-size groups.