Engineering & Manufacturing

Industry spotlight

It seems all the premature claims about the demise of engineering and manufacturing were unfounded, as we’re noticing plenty of demand from employers looking for great candidates. This demand has only been compounded as sterling has continued fluctuating against other currencies.

Despite this continuing need for good quality candidates we continue to see a skills shortage, particularly in engineering where a lack of training remains a real problem. This in turn leaves the UK sector heavily reliant on EU nationals and the hope that existing workers don’t retire early – neither is a robust foundation for such a huge working sector.

Despite these problems, Britain is still widely regarded as a hotbed for innovation and so we expect to see development rather than production driving growth. As such we focus much of our advertising on precision and bespoke engineering as opposed to roles centered around volume production.

As with the construction industry, engineering and manufacturing remain typically male-dominated sectors and have struggled to cross the gender divide and attract enough women. It may all be moot though, as the biggest threat to workers of every gender in the future will likely be automation and the growth of Artificial Intelligence and robot tech to replace people. Don’t worry too much yet though, as this is still decades away from becoming a reality.

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