csd72: what evidence do you have, aside from your own anecdotal experience with finding a job, that there is a global shortage of engineers?
There certainly is no shortage of engineers in Canada, and I have the statistics to prove that conclusively. That said, there ARE indeed regional shortages, and shortages at certain levels of experience or in certain fields. When you analyze these shortages, you invariably find that these correspond to years when the marketplace wasn't hiring engineers, or fields which previously were in a protracted "bust" cycle which later recovered. Tough to find engineers with ~10 years experience when the market wasn't HIRING fresh grads 10 years ago! And the Canadian experience has shown that even immigration at ENORMOUS levels- almost twice the number immigrating to Canada per year as the entire output of all of our accredited universities- cannot make this sort of problem go away completely.
I think I can safely venture that THERE IS NO SHORTAGE OF ENGINEERS: rather, there's a lack of willingness of firms to pay engineers what they're really worth, to hire them early in their careers and train them etc. Businesses will do these things only when market conditions force them to do so, and they don't like being forced to spend money. So they spend a smaller amount of money on media via their lobby groups to promote the myth of shortage. It's proven to be money very well spent on their part, as governments have proven time and again their willingness to respond by turning on the supply taps. And nobody in our prima donna profession is standing by to close them again when the market overflows...