The UK needs to train 100,000 engineers a year if it is to ensure healthy future economic growth, an industry boss has warned.
Stephen Tetlow, chief executive of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, said the number of newly trained engineers joining the trade was “pathetic” and urged all involved in the support of skills development – from government to academia – to “get their act together” and boost the number of people taking on careers in engineering.
The warning came as the institute revealed that the number of registered engineers rose by just three last year. This was despite an increase in recruitment of 17%.
However, the ageing workforce and consequent retirements were “deeply worrying”, Mr tetlow said.
“There is still a widespread failure to grasp the scale of the skills gap facing the UK,” he said. “On the face of it, the latest figures from the Engineering Council look good, with the number of professional engineers across the country growing by 17% last year.
“But with the ageing workforce and so many retiring from engineering, the total number of engineers and technicians in the country increased by only three people. We need 100,000 professionals each year to give our country any chance of sustainable growth for the future.
“The figures are deeply worrying and frankly not far short of pathetic.
“Whilst it is encouraging to see growth in the number of professional mechanical engineers, the overall picture is bleak and nowhere near meeting the demands of our future economy.”
Mr Tetlow also criticised the still-low number of women joining the profession, with females making up only 5% of people joining the procession.
“Seemingly, all the efforts over the last year to attract females to this exciting career have had almost no effect whatsoever,” he said.
“I am convinced the government has got the message, but I’m not convinced we are all doing what it takes to deliver in time.
“We need to scale up our efforts significantly, urgently and strategically.
“We need real leadership – now – to stop us falling over a cliff-edge.”
Overall, the Engineering Council’s register of professionally registered engineers showed there were 222,603 professional engineers in 2013, compared with 222,600 in 2012 and 248,418 10 years ago – a decline of 10% over 10 years.
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