The Engineering Council says a recent survey of registered engineers “provides sound evidence” that those holding the professional engineering qualifications Chartered Engineer (CEng), Incorporated Engineer (IEng), or Engineering Technician (EngTech), are likely to have held on to their jobs during the recession.
Asked their employment status, only 1.5% of the almost 3,000 respondents, all aged below 65, were “unemployed and seeking re-employment” this May, “well below” the national unemployment figure of 7.3% (Office for National Statistics). Andrew Ramsay, the Council’s CEO, said: “It would be amazing if registered engineers had not suffered some effects from the cold economic climate, but the message, although a big increase on the 0.6% in this category in 2007, seems to be that qualified engineers are still in demand in the UK.” The latest in a series conducted regularly since 1981 for the Council by ERS Research, this year’s survey also revealed that all registrant levels have seen a rise in total earnings since 2007; up 10% for CEngs, 6% for IEngs, and 12% for EngTechs. Median annual total earnings in 2010 were £55,000 for CEngs, £43,000 for IEngs, and £37,000 for EngTechs. The Council said: “For CEngs the increase in mean total earnings is somewhat higher, at 15%, accounted for by a considerable increase in the number earning more than £60,000, including 11% now earning over £100,000.”
