Shortage of skills for engineering job vacancies says REC
The latest industry profile from the REC has found that employers are struggling to fill engineering job vacancies due to a lack of sufficiently skilled workers.
Despite the high standards of technical and engineering education in the UK, the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC)'s Engineering & Technical Industry Research Profile has found that the sector is beset with skills shortages. The REC's chair of Engineering and Technical, Philip Higgins offered his commentary on the research.
Addressing the issue of shortage of qualified engineering graduates, Higgins said that "the issue is not only how we can attract skills to the UK, but also work with universities and higher education authorities to make sure we're promoting engineering as a career."
"This is becoming even more critical given the number of major engineering projects planned for the UK over the next ten years".
The profile suggested that the highest demand for skilled engineers was in mechanical jobs. It also found that suitable candidates for electronics and electrical jobs were in short supply.
REC's Industry Research Unit, the authors of the profile, made several other key findings. Whilst currently design engineers are one of the few specialist areas without a significant shortage, the REC estimates that this will change in the next 5-10 years. During this period 25% of the most experienced people in UK design jobs are expected to retire. Whilst this will create many employment opportunities for skilled graduates, the REC is concerned that there may be a shortfall in the amount of CAD qualified workers.
Other findings reveal that compared with other sectors, engineering and technical employers make more use of construction recruitment agencies. Nearly 1 in 5 of those surveyed were using more than six different agencies to secure workers, and there was a less than average number of them who relied upon just one.