Yea auto mechanic is something I have been really thinking about but the problem is its the same story in that field, you go to work for a shop and you end up with about 1/3 of the bill rate, so unless you have the money to set up your own shop your going to be in the same situation as engineering. The only way to get the higher bill rate would be if you were unionized so you could get 2/3 to 80% of your bill rate I think that would be alot more fair but the only way to make that happen is if you were unionized. If I made 80-90% of my bill rate I would not really be concerned about furloughs or lay offs because my bank account would be padded. There is a local contracting outfit in my area that only takes 10% and I applied with them and they said they would get back with me next week so im looking forward to what they say.
Do you understand what your billable rate goes to pay for?
The typical hourly billable rate for production guys are calculated by the following:
Base salary + overhead margin (~2.5x base salary*) + profit (average of 15%)
*depending on your company, this is determined by the overhead backing your company provides. This includes everything from your health benefits to the office rent to your office supplies to your receptionist and on and on and on. Obviously it is in your company's best interest to lower this mulitplier to maximize profits and make your billable rate more competitive.
So if you make $25 gross per hour:
Base salary = $25
overhead = 2.5x $25 = $62.50
profit margin = ($25+$62.50)x0.15 = ~$13
Total = $99.50
So you see when you make $25 per hour after your company billed you out at $100, the company is only making about $13 profit per hour. This is also why you will never see a pay rate of 80% of your billable rate (unless of course you don't want benefits, don't need office supplies, work from home, and don't have anyone handling the business side of your company - including marketing).
Obviously the profit margin can fluctuate depending on where you sit on the corporate ladder. Most companies build higher profit margins (up to 25%) into their production personnel, and very low profits into their upper management (as low as 1-3%). So if you want to make $80 per hour as a production guy, you need to be billing out at over $320 per hour (15% profit for the company).
I don't want to call you an idiot, but I think your statements are grossly mis-informed. Your statements of wanting to make 80% of your billable rate simply indicates you have never been put into a project management position and have not been introduced to the business side of engineering. If you have questions about how your billable rates are calculated, I would suggest sitting down with your someone in your office who is responsible for determining these rates.