Engineering outperforms economy, Giant Group reports
1 min read
The number of UK engineering companies has fallen by just 2.3% since the start of the economic downturn compared to the average across all sectors the UK economy which lost 3.3% of its companies in the same period.
According to the data obtained the employment specialist Giant Group plc, there were 69,575 registered engineering companies in the UK in 2011, down from 71,240 in 2009.
Giant Group managing director Matthew Brown said: "Compared to other sectors of the UK economy, engineering has remained relatively buoyant, which is quite a feat in the face of the global economic turbulence we've seen over the last three years.
"The contractors we are working with are more confident of their job prospects for the coming year, particularly in the energy, infrastructure and automotive manufacturing sectors.
"As the UK ramps up investment in complex infrastructure projects, such as HS2 and Crossrail (pictured), there has also been an increase in demand for civil engineers.
"Despite the Eurozone crisis dampening levels of demand in the second half of last year, the outlook is good for engineering contractors. British engineering businesses are getting good exposure to emerging economies, which counterbalances weakening demand in Europe."
According to Giant, engineers are more confident about their job prospects than they were this time last year: 61% of engineering contractors said they expect their pay to rise in 2012, a 10% increase on the 51% of engineers who forecast a pay increase in 2011.
