Engineering skills shortages getting worse: new survey 03 February 2014

Vacancies in engineering and skilled trades are the most difficult to fill, due to skills deficiencies in the labour market.

That's chief among the unsurprising findings of the latest survey on skills from the UK Commission for Employment and Skills.

The average figure unfilled vacancies across all occupations is 22%, whereas for manufacturing and engineering that rises to 30% and for skilled trades it peaks at 39%.

"The UK CES Employer Skills Survey confirms that organisations find it hard to recruit the skilled people they need," states Lord Baker, chairman of Baker Dearing Educational Trust.

"It also claims skills shortages are getting worse and may be holding back the UK's economic recovery. Such deficiencies have persisted over time ... making the need for home grown talent greater than ever," he adds.

For him, University Technical Colleges are leading the way by offering high-quality science, engineering and technical education alongside core subjects, such as English and maths.

The 50, when fully operational, will take around 30,000 students, 17 are currently open.

Brian Tinham

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Department for Education & Skills

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