GE survey highlights skills pain

Out of 402 companies, 65 per cent of those who had been recruiting staff over the past year said they had had difficulty finding skilled engineers. The most difficult positions to fill were mid-level (5-10 years' experience) and senior engineers, with 90 per cent struggling to recruit at this level. The survey also asked how the problem should be addressed. Ninety four per cent of respondents felt that engineering needed to be promoted as a successful career. A further 86 per cent called for an increase in the quality of maths and science being taught in schools. This was higher than the response for improving university education as a means of increasing the number of engineers. When asked what their individual companies are doing to tackle the problem, over 70 per cent said that they are retraining their existing employees to improve their workforce.