IET survey warns of deteriorating skills gap

The IET̵7;s annual skills survey of 500 companies also revealed that businesses are turning to countries such as India, China and South Africa to plug the skills gap, with 48 per cent of companies recruiting from overseas in the last 12 months to cover specific skills shortages.

Business that expect to face difficulties in recruiting adequate suitably qualified engineers, technicians or technologists over the next four years had risen from 40.2 per cent in 2006 to 51.8 per cent in 2007.

Robin McGill, chief executive of the IET, said: ̵6;The engineering and technology sector is vital to the future prosperity to the UK̵7;s economy and an increase in skills shortages puts the future growth, success and competitive advantage of many businesses into serious doubt. The UK desperately needs to increase the pool of engineers and technicians to meet demand.̵7;

The IET̵7;s latest survey builds on information from 2006 and shows that although the engineering and technology sector is still growing and recruiting, only 56 per cent of respondents believed they would be able to recruit enough people into engineering and technical roles this year. Confidence is down ̵1; this represents a fall from 65 per cent believing the same in 2006.

Bob Taylor, E.ON UK board member, said: ̵6;The results of the survey underline the difficult skills challenge the industry and our company now face. We̵7;re taking steps to address that immediate need through re-training initiatives and by bringing in trained engineers who have completed apprenticeships with E.ON in Germany.̵7;
  
Taylor went on to say that recruiting from overseas and is ̵6;a positive way to get the people we need in the field and working on our networks. But the industry needs a combination of measures to bridge the skills gap and that̵7;s why we continue to fund and commit to the long term at the same time.̵7;

Image: Robin McGill, Chief Executive of The IET