<p>From a finance perspective, engineering salaries are part of the total cost of the goods/services that they produce. Higher profit margin goods/services allow for higher salaries, conversely lower profit margin goods/services have salary/expense pressure. Using the IB/MC example, these services are high profit margin. That is IB/MC generate large fees in excess of the cost of these services. An exampe is an entry level MC from a Big 4 is billed out a $140 - $160 per hour. That entry level MC is being paid $45-60 per hour. </p>
<p>The bottomline is that, the USA still enjoys a competitive advantage in certain industries/fields. Here are few I can think of. IB/MC/Airplanes/Big Pharma/Biotech/Law. I would even include sports such as the NBA/MLB/NFL. I would not include soccer since the European club teams are willing to pay for talent.</p>
<p>In industries such as autos, lower cost/higher quality producers are hurting GM and Ford.</p>
<p>In summary, if you want to make money you need to go where the money is.</p>