Engineering facing skills and diversity crisis

Over 60% of engineering employers think graduate skills are inadequate, while 68% are concerned that the education system will struggle to keep up with the skills required for technological change, the 2016 Skills and Demand in Industry report says.

The report also highlights the impact of Brexit, with 40% of those surveyed believing their recruitment will be negatively impacted over the next four to five years.

Demand for engineers is high but the report reveals deeper concern than ever around the skills and experience of our future workforce

IET president Naomi Climer

Elsewhere in the report, 57% of employers say they have recently experienced problems recruiting senior engineers with 5-10 years’ experience.

To combat these issues, particularly those concerning graduates and school leavers, 91% of companies agreed that to improve the supply of engineers and technicians, more employers need to provide work experience for those in education or training.

Alongside this, the IET is launching a campaign – ‘Engineering Work Experience for All’ – to “champion the need for more employers and universities to collaborate to offer quality work experience to engineering students”.

According to the IET, “the campaign is designed to rally employers, universities, government and students to make a range of different, quality work experience opportunities more widespread”.

IET president Naomi Climer said: “Demand for engineers is high but the report reveals deeper concern than ever around the skills and experience of our future workforce.

“As we are facing an engineering shortfall in the next decade and some uncertainty around skills following Brexit, it is more important than ever that we develop the next generation of ‘home grown’ engineering and technology talent.”

Meanwhile, the report also highlights concerns regarding workforce diversity, indicating women still make up less than 10% of the UK’s engineering workforce.

Added to this, 63% of businesses don’t have gender diversity initiatives in place – which is an increase from 57% in 2015 – and a further 73% don’t have LGBT or ethnic diversity initiatives in place.

However, 40% of employers agreed that their organisation could do more to recruit people from diverse backgrounds.

“We…want to draw attention to the importance of continuing professional development in a world where technology is changing fast – and of having clear plans to create a more diverse workforce,” Climer said.