If you were an Oz, best to get a mining engineering degree.
I had a visitor around here last night and he earns $250,000 per year PLUS free accommodation and airfares to an island off WA where they mine LPG. All food paid for. Nothing to spend. And he is only 30 years old and has been in the job for four years. He only works 6 months of the year, ie: 26 days on and 26 days off, repeated.
In comparison, electronic engineers here get paid poorly, and get few benefits if any.
Yes, it pays better. I wouldn't expect it.
http://www.payscale.com/research/AU/Job=Mining_Engineer/Salary median: 112k
http://www.payscale.com/research/AU/Job=Electronics_Engineer/Salary median: 68k
According to your link for EE's "People in this job generally don't have more than 20 years' experience." And that is in a dying industry.
That's because they burn out, get retrenched and can't find a job because of age discrimination or there are no jobs left, have had a gut full, lose the passion, or move to greener pastures that pays better. I have seen it all before.
I know one long time friend with whom I went to uni in the 1970's. He was 100% electronics. He was a brilliant analogue design engineer and very smart (a little eccentric though), but he felt he worked long hours for little return and struggled to find decent work. He could see electronics was dying in Australia. He got disillusioned and left the profession forever, literally vowing never to return. Through desperation, he became a home handyman in his local community where a lot of old aged pensioners reside so there is heaps of work. He is booked out 3 months ahead and does not need to advertise. He is now very happy, gets a great deal of satisfaction, and earns more money than he ever did as an EE. No degree required.
I stay in the profession for one reason and one reason only... I still have the passion, can still do the work pretty well and I don't think I suffer from the illegal ageism which runs rampant in our country. But I am fortunate, because there are few hands-on EE's left at my age in Australia for the reasons I mentioned. My work is in medical electronics, one of the only electronics industries left in this country. A colleague has a PhD in medical manufacturing. He is brilliant, very experienced, gets along with everyone, and is a little older than me. He travels from Sydney to Melbourne each week (1000 km each way) because age discrimination had made it almost impossible for him to find work.
Sometimes I think my mate made the right choice. Certainly for him anyway. In any case, it is bloody shameful on our government and our sick society there are so few electronics engineers at my age in Australia.
So, anyone wanting to become an EE here must understand work will never be guaranteed. There is no job for life. You just have to do the best you can, keep learning, go the extra mile, morph with technology and above all, keep the passion of electronics!