Work is needed to counter the ‘oily’ image of jobs for engineers, and stop the digital sector from luring the best graduates, a report in the Observer has revealed.

"It is incredibly hard to recruit enough experienced people,” said civil engineer Liz Chapman, head of design at the UK arm of global infrastructure business Stantec. “I have never known it to be this tough to find engineering staff.”

While many companies are withdrawing job adverts, worried about higher interest rates and the threat of an economic slowdown, engineering firms are bucking the trend.

Figures from data provider Adzuna show that vacancies in the field increased from 86,550 in January to 91,255 in June. By contrast, from January to July, vacancies across all industries slumped from a high of 1.3m to just over a million.

Jobs site Indeed reported in June that engineering vacancies were prominent among the hardest-to-fill roles. Veterinary surgeons topped the list, but mechanical engineers came second, electrical engineers fourth, civil engineers fifth and industrial engineers seventh.

Holding up the shift to energy efficient heating

There’s also a shortage of engineers to fit the new generation of heat pumps to replace gas boilers in millions of properties, which is holding up the shift to energy-efficient heating.

“In terms of difficult-to-fill posts, engineering is among the worst,” saids Jack Kennedy, Indeed’s UK economist. His views are echoed by many in the industry, who say Britain’s difficulties repairing crumbling infrastructure, building roads, bridges and railway lines and installing green technologies can be blamed on a shortage of skilled staff as much as on planning delays or lack of funding.

Students' heads are being turned by the excitement associated with fintech, AI and cybersecurity

The water industry is desperate for qualified technicians after 40 years of inactivity and low recruitment. Thames Water’s near collapse under a mountain of debt is due partly to regulators’ demands to improve water and sewage systems, which will mean spending large sums competing for a small pool of skilled workers.

Another huge infrastructure task, overhauling the national electricity grid to meet net zero targets, will place extra demands on universities to train electrical engineers, but few young people are taking up places. Last year the Institute of Engineering and Technology estimated there was a shortfall of more than 173,000 workers in the sector.

Kennedy said that while there might be cash to fund infrastructure projects, there is a shortage of money to pay the salaries that graduate engineers will demand.

“It has been a longstanding gripe of the engineering sector that it competes with the finance and IT industries for people. Young people are possibly induced to look elsewhere by the higher salaries on offer,” he said.

James Neave, Adzuna’s head of data science, says engineering was likely also to be suffering from the churn that has reduced average job tenure to below five years. “Generation Z – who are much more inclined to move from job to job – are always on the look-out for a better benefits package,” he said.

Shopping around for high salaries and good prospects

With the cost of living crisis, it is unsurprising that people with maths or science degrees shop around for high salaries and good prospects. Data science graduates can command starting salaries from FTSE 100 companies of £50,000 or more. Investment banks and tech firms offer even more to maths graduates.

Prof Stephen Garrett, dean of engineering and physical sciences at Aston University, says the digital boom is driving students away from traditional engineering courses. “The core computer science courses attract young people who want to study data analytics, fintech, applied artificial intelligence and cybersecurity,” he said.

“And why wouldn’t they, when all they hear from government is that the future is digital. Students’ heads are being turned by the excitement associated with these areas.” He added that without extra investment there woukld be a limit on the laboratory space needed to educate mechanical or aeronautical engineers.

Chapman, who is based in Warrington, Cheshire, says staff shortages mean Stantec, which is listed in New York and has offices across North America, Europe and the Middle East, struggles to meet demand from clients. In the UK, it competes for graduates with engineering companies including Arup and Mott Macdonald.

“It’s true that once people have found their way into a firm like ours, they become attractive to other businesses and may go and get more money elsewhere,” she said. “But engineers in the main are quite quiet and unassuming. They are not the biggest self-promoters. They also recognise that money is not the only reward. Doing something useful and going home at the end of the day having contributed to society is something they value.”

Salaries in the sector average £41,473, according to Adzuna, up 6.3% from a year ago.

Hilary Leevers, chief executive of industry umbrella group Engineering UK, doesn’t think pay is the limiting factor. He said: “It is the perception that engineers must wear hard hats at all times and get their hands dirty that is a bigger factor.

Connection between engineering and sustainability

“We know young people are looking for a job with a purpose and young people who make the connection between engineering and sustainability are seven times more likely to be interested in an engineering career. Yet many never hear of the positive impact engineering can make on the environment, because the news focuses on conservation and bio-diversity rather than the energy transition.”

Leevers believes the traditionally male-dominated industry is more diverse than many believe. Not only does the workforce include more women and people of colour than would be imagined, the work on offer is wide-ranging.

Laurence Robertson, MP, chair of the all-party engineering committee, said schools needed more support to tackle the idea that engineering is “a bit oily and dangerous, which couldn’t be further from the truth”. Several engineering and aerospace firms in Robertson’s Tewksbury constituency say they struggle to find skilled staff.

“There is a greater awareness of the variety of jobs and the type of work on offer, but we need to do more,” he said.