The Engineering Skills Gap is Still Prevalent in Any Industry
There are engineering jobs available, but engineering graduates just do not qualify. The engineering skills gap is the main reason for sluggish industries.
This is what the 2016 Skills and Demand in Industry report published by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) aimed to say with their statistics gathered.
After interviewing over 400 UK engineering employers, the report found that 62% of these employers believe that the graduates do not have the right skills for today’s workplace. In addition, 68% of the employers asked are concerned about the struggle of the educational system to keep up with the skills required for technological change.
The skills gap is not a new issue in the engineering industry. There have been efforts to answer this problem through educational institutions, by updating engineering curricula to match with the industry’s demands. But among the employers involved in the survey, 91% of them agreed that work experience will help students and trainees to improve the supply of engineers and technicians via online education. There are several companies who can provide online skills and trainings, such as Abhisam – the leaders in ecourses for engineers and technicians.
Other critical aspects that the report covered about engineering are diversity issues, the role of education and a lack of experienced engineering staff. Here are key findings from the report:
Education, employment and skills gaps
- 52% of employers are currently seeking new engineering and technology recruits
- 57% are currently, or have recently, experienced problems recruiting senior engineers with 5-10 years’ experience
- 50% find that a typical new engineering and technology recruit does not meet their reasonable expectations
Engineering work experience
- 76% of employers agree that compelling all engineering and technology companies to provide work experience would improve the pool of engineering talent
- 53% don’t know how the apprentice levy can benefit their organisation
Diversity and inclusion
- 9% of the UK engineering and technology workforce are female
- 63% of businesses don’t have gender diversity initiatives in place (increased from 57% in 2015)
- 73% don’t have LGBT or ethnic diversity initiatives in place
- 40% of employers agree that their organisation could do more to recruit people from diverse backgrounds
