Career Trends: Civil Engineering Technicians

Civil engineering technicians help civil engineers to plan, design, and build highways, bridges, utilities, and other infrastructure projects. They also help to plan, design, and build commercial, industrial, residential, and land development projects.

Civil engineering technicians work in offices, where they help civil engineers plan and design projects. Civil engineering technicians sometimes visit the jobsite where a construction project is taking place, to collect or test materials or observe the project.

Although not always required, an associate’s degree in civil engineering technology is preferred for employment as a civil engineering technician.

Employment of civil engineering technicians is projected to grow 5 percent from 2014 to 2024, about as fast as the average for all occupations. The need to preserve, repair, upgrade, and enhance an aging infrastructure will sustain demand for these workers.

This occupation supported 73,100 jobs in 2012 and 74,000 jobs in 2014, reflecting an increase of 1.2%. In 2012, this occupation was projected to increase by 0.7% in 2022 to 73,600 jobs. As of 2014, to keep pace with prediction, the expected number of jobs was 73,100, compared with an observed value of 74,000, 1.2% higher than expected. This indicates current employment trends are about on track with the 2012 trend within this occupation. In 2014, this occupation was projected to increase by 4.9% in 2024 to 77,600 jobs. Linear extrapolation of the 2012 projection for 2022 results in an expected number of 73,600 jobs for 2024, 5.2% lower than the 2014 projection for 2024. This indicates expectations for future employment trends are much better than the 2012 trend within this occupation.