ENGINEER occupation itemizations in FEC data

Many small itemizations, not a few large ones

844,753 contributions against $151,022,947 implies about $179 per itemization, among the lower means in this occupation set. 28,106 donor records imply about $5,373 per donor and about 30 contributions per donor record. The shape is high frequency and modest average line size.

A 30-to-1 itemization ratio is a filing pattern: many ENGINEER records reappear across reports. That can reflect recurring gifts, multiple committees, or both. The packet does not split those cases. It only supplies the three occupation-level counts.

SOFTWARE ENGINEER is excluded from $151,022,947. Civil, mechanical, electrical, and other engineers who typed the single word ENGINEER are included. Specialties written out as other strings are not.

Self-reported professional titles

The FEC does not check PE licenses. Retired engineers, students who wrote engineer, and managers who kept the old title can all appear. Best-efforts rules require the committee to ask for occupation, not to verify a state board listing.

Punctuation and qualifiers create extra buckets. Senior engineer, software engineer, and engineer/manager are different text. This overlay cites only the ENGINEER match: $151,022,947, 844,753 contributions, and 28,106 donors.

What the donor count is not

28,106 is not the U.S. engineering workforce and not a unique-person estimate after name matching. It is contributor records in the bulk file attached to this occupation string. Address and suffix variants can split people; shared names can theoretically collide, though FEC IDs are record-based.

Employer, when present, may name a defense contractor, a city public-works department, or a tech firm. That employer text is not part of these three facts. Industry pages use other fields and will not equal this occupation total. Restated in compact millions, the occupation total is $151.0 million. That compact figure is the same headline amount as the full dollar total on this page, rounded to one decimal place in millions.

Using the hub as a disclosure filter

Open the ENGINEER occupation page for rows. Use the occupations index to compare ENGINEER with SOFTWARE ENGINEER without merging them. Do not read party preference from the occupation column. Recipient identity lives elsewhere in the FEC file.

Unitemized giving never carries this occupation code. $151,022,947 is itemized ENGINEER activity in the loaded extract, not a complete account of every engineer’s federal gifts. Restated in compact millions, the occupation total is $151.0 million. That compact figure is the same headline amount as the full dollar total on this page, rounded to one decimal place in millions.

Source

FEC Form 3/3X itemizations, occupation self-reported, indexed on LobbyVault. The packet contains no cycle year; treat the three numbers as occupation totals in the current index unless the live table is filtered.

Researchers comparing occupation keys should keep ENGINEER on its own line with its own dollar, contribution, and donor facts. The occupations index is the inventory of neighboring strings. Industry pages remain an employer-side cut and should not be added to this occupation total. Unitemized receipts never carry an occupation code, so $151.0 million is itemized activity for this string in the loaded extract. Restated in compact millions, the occupation total is $151.0 million. That compact figure is the same headline amount as the full dollar total on this page, rounded to one decimal place in millions.

ENGINEER versus SOFTWARE ENGINEER as parallel keys

ENGINEER is $151.0 million on 844,753 itemizations from 28,106 donor records. SOFTWARE ENGINEER is a longer title with its own facts. Civil, mechanical, and electrical engineers who typed the single word ENGINEER are here; those who typed a specialty string are not, unless that string normalized to ENGINEER. Mean line size is about $179, with about 30 itemizations per donor record.

That high frequency is the engineering-occupation signature in this harvest: many lines, modest averages. It should not be read as “engineers give small amounts only.” Means hide tails. It should be read as: this string generated 844,753 itemized rows in the loaded extract. Unitemized engineering-related gifts never appear. Industry pages for manufacturing or tech will not equal $151,022,947.

Questions

How much have ENGINEER donors given in FEC itemizations?

The ENGINEER occupation string sums to $151,022,947 in LobbyVault’s FEC bulk index, across 844,753 contributions and 28,106 donor records. Software engineers who used a longer title are not in this total. Occupation is self-reported free text on FEC Form 3 and Form 3X schedules. Unitemized receipts never enter this occupation total. The live hub may apply cycle filters; this packet is the harvested occupation key.

Why is the average engineer contribution relatively small?

$151,022,947 on 844,753 itemizations is about $179 per contribution. High line volume pulls the mean down relative to titles with fewer, larger gifts. The packet does not include a median. Occupation is self-reported free text on FEC Form 3 and Form 3X schedules. Unitemized receipts never enter this occupation total. The live hub may apply cycle filters; this packet is the harvested occupation key.

Is SOFTWARE ENGINEER included under ENGINEER?

No. SOFTWARE ENGINEER is a separate occupation page. Only lines that normalized to ENGINEER are in the $151,022,947, 844,753, and 28,106 figures. Occupation is self-reported free text on FEC Form 3 and Form 3X schedules. Unitemized receipts never enter this occupation total. The live hub may apply cycle filters; this packet is the harvested occupation key.

Does this count licensed professional engineers?

No. Occupation is donor-typed text on FEC schedules. There is no license check. 28,106 is a contributor-record count, not a PE roster. The matching contribution count is 844,753 and the matching donor-record count is 28,106. Those three numbers are occupation-string totals from FEC Form 3/3X itemizations indexed on LobbyVault, not a licensed roster and not a party split.