Engineering jobs: applications, vacancies and salaries see growth

It’s been a strong start to the year for engineering jobs, with vacancies, application rates and advertised salaries all seeing an increase last quarter.

In fact, job vacancies rose by a 16.7% in Q1, when compared with data from Q4 2017. That’s according to the latest job market data from CV-Library, the UK independent job site.

What’s more, the report, which analysed data from Q1 2018 and compared this with Q4 2017, found that application rates across the industry rose by 27.4% during this period.

However, applications for engineering jobs did see a small decline of 3.2% year-on-year.

Lee Biggins, founder and managing director of CV-Library, comments on the findings: “It’s great to see that the engineering industry has performed so well in the first quarter, with businesses in the sector remaining resilient as we move through 2018.

“This is particularly true of the engineering industry, where ongoing uncertainty post-Brexit is causing problems for many employers.

“That said, it’s clear that this confidence is catching on, with candidate appetite picking back up in the first quarter and job hunters remaining active across the industry. If you’re looking to expand your workforce, now could be the perfect time to ramp up your recruitment efforts.”

Pay packets rising by 2.5%

Furthermore, advertised salaries in the engineering sector saw a slight increase of 0.3% quarter-on-quarter, but saw a bigger increase year-on-year, with pay packets rising by 2.5% when compared with data from Q1 2017.

Biggins concludes:  “It’s positive that salaries saw an increase on the last quarter and this could be a big contributing factor towards the rise in application rates when compared with Q4 2017.

“With engineering candidates feeling more comfortable about making their next career move, businesses in the industry need to continue to offer competitive packages if they hope to keep the momentum going.”