500,000 Engineers Needed!

EngineeringUK have just published their highly regarded annual report (2009/2010) on the state of the UK’s £799 billion engineering industry, which estimates that a staggering 500,000 Engineers will be needed in the engineering, construction and manufacturing industries by 2017. Amongst many other key findings it highlights that 47% of employees within this sector are expected to be at associate professional level or higher, compared with 32% in 1987, while trades/operatives are projected to decline from 42% to just 27% of engineering employees.

Paul Jackson, EngineeringUK’s CEO, said: “We are calling for Government, business and education providers to work together to develop a clear road map for the UK engineering sector“, adding that “tax breaks and other regulatory incentives for small and medium-sized enterprises will play a significant part, but what really matters is a long-term strategy, detailing all major infrastructure projects for the foreseeable future and inspiring UK engineering with the confidence it needs to invest in new skills and technologies.”

For those of you who don’t have time to review the entire 220 pages of the full report you can also view a Detailed Summary by Section which condenses the key findings.