In the US we graduate about 100k engineering students each year(http://dondodge.typepad.com/the_next_big_thing/2008/11/50-of-us-engineering-students-dropout---w

In the US we graduate about 100k engineering students each year(http://dondodge.typepad.com/the_next_big_thing/2008/11/50-of-us-engineering-students-dropout---why.html http://dondodge.typepad.com/the_next_big_thing/2008/11/50-of...). So even if we hired every engineering graduate from US schools every year, we wouldn't fill the gap, by a long shot. My point is that for a population this huge you're not going to be able to backfill for any reasonable dollar amount or you have to significantly lower your standards, in which case you're probably hiring people that will largely fall into that same bottom 10% next year.