Pipe up: engineering is a great career – go out and tell people about it

“A joined-up and co-ordinated approach is needed to encourage youngsters to pursue a career in engineering.”

The recently published Engineering UK 2016 The State of Engineering report highlights the fact that the sector is driving the economy, driving employment and driving productivity. In fact, engineering is 68 per cent more productive than retail and wholesale, with apprentices making a significant contribution.

It tells us that over 27 per cent of total UK GDP is generated by engineering, amounting to £445.6 billion, and turnover for engineering has grown by 3.4 per cent to £1.21 trillion. Employment in engineering has grown to over 5.5 million and the industry now supports 14.5 million jobs. A strong engineering industry has a powerful ripple effect: for every new job in engineering, two more are created outside of the sector.

This is indicative of a multi- faceted industry made of up a number of growth sectors. Take renewable energy as an example. Renewable generation now provides almost a fifth of our electricity needs, powering the equivalent of 14.5 million homes. The UK is one of the most attractive countries in the world for green growth, with almost £37 billion invested in renewable energy since 2010. We lead the world in offshore wind and remain one of the world leaders in marine energy. This, of course, brings great opportunities for UK businesses, for jobs and for boosting local economies.

Despite all this, the considerable gap between the supply of, and demand for, people with engineering skills means we are right to be concerned. In energy, water or utility companies the average proportion of unfilled vacancies is just over 11 per cent, second only to IT/telecommunications. We need to join in concerted and co-ordinated action to work with education to inspire young people to make the subject and career choices that will help close that skills gap.

The annual Big Bang Fair will see around 70,000 visitors explore STEM careers. As a community we need to build on the inspiration of the Big Bang Fair and the strong foundations laid by the Tomorrow’s Engineers programme to boost the volume, reach and quality of engineering employer engagements with young people, whatever their background. We need joined-up education policies that deliver easy-to-follow academic and vocational pathways for those in education today and commitment across government, education and business to work hard and to work together to inspire those young people to become the industry’s talent of the future.

Paul Jackson, chief executive, Engineering UK