Wonder how much longer this will be a problem
One of the secrets that are kept from new engineering students is the tendency of the profession to grind down new hires and spit them out when they're "too old." It doesn't happen everywhere, and high-end chip designers, EEs, etc. may be less affected than run of the mill techies. But, now that this fact is starting to become common knoweldge, wouldn't it make sense that fewer smart people of any race are enthusiastically embracing an engineering job? If you want to get qualified candidates, as well as a diverse workforce, the perception of engineering as a dead end, easily offshorable, unstable career choice needs to go away. Combine that with improving education before college, and you should have a healthy crop of eager new grads willing to work in what is quite honestly still a very interesting field.
The last financial bubble showed that financial firms siphon away a lot of top technical people to work on HFT and other projects. For those who like a stable career, medicine is also available to smart people. If I were 18 again, I'm not sure I would consider the effort of an engineering degree if I could just go get an MBA, or any of the other paths to riches.