Engineering salaries on the rise, but job market slows down amidst ongoing uncertainty

Salaries have been a big talking point in the last quarter, with the Office for National Statistics recently reporting that pay packets saw the biggest rise in a decade.

What’s more, the latest job market report from CV-Library, the UK independent job site, found that advertised salaries in the engineering sector increased by 1.1% in Q4 2018.



The report, which compared data from Q4 2018 with data from Q3 2018 and the same period in 2017, found that average pay for new roles was also up slightly year-on-year, rising by a 1% across the industry.

Other key findings from the report include:

* Despite businesses offering higher salaries, advertised engineering jobs actually saw a dip in Q4, falling by 4.5% quarter-on-quarter

* That said, engineering vacancies were up by 12.7% when looking at year-on-year statistics

* But applications weren’t keeping pace, seeing a decrease of 1.8% in Q4, when compared with data from Q3 2018

Lee Biggins, founder and CEO of CV-Library, comments: “It’s a turbulent time for the UK right now. Following this month’s failed Brexit vote and Theresa May narrowly holding onto her leadership, there’s still a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the future of the nation’s economy.

“This has had a knock on effect on the recruitment space, with candidates in the engineering sector feeling nervous to move around the job market and businesses temporarily slowing down their hiring efforts until an outcome is reached.

“That said, those whose are hiring are pulling out all the stops and recognising the need to offer competitive salaries, in order to attract the top talent.”

The report also revealed that despite applications being down, the amount of engineers registering their CVs to the job site rose by 18% year-on-year. This suggests that candidates are feeling more confident than they were this time last year.

Biggins concludes: “Despite this uncertainty, it’s positive to see that engineering professionals were preparing for their job search in the last few months of the year. This is something that often happens nearing the end of the year, with many looking to land a new role in January. As such, we expect to see job vacancies and application rates picking back up next quarter.”

For more information, download the full Q4 Job Market Report HERE.