“Many of the engineering disciplines benefit from an imbalance in the supply-demand ratio,” said Marilyn Mackes, NACE executive director. “Even in a tight job market, there are simply more opportunities requiring an engineering degree than graduates available to fill those positions. That drives salaries up.”

An article by Julianne Pepitone in CNNMoney.com quoted NACE research director Ed Koc as saying: “Math is at the crux of who gets paid. If you have those skills, you are an extremely valuable asset. We don't generate enough people like that in this country.”

In the article, Koc concurred with Mackes: “It's a supply and demand issue,” he said. “So few grads offer math skills, and those who can are rewarded.”

The Digest of Education Statistics 2008, published by National Center for Education Statistics, states that more than 1.5 million bachelor’s degrees were awarded in 2007. Of these, a mere 450 were in petroleum engineering and just 4,492 were in chemical engineering.

Updated October 13, 2009

CNNMoney.com published its "best jobs in America" list. Systems engineer was top of the list. Yes, the No. 1 best job in America is systems engineer.