Growing need for skills to bridge the retirement cliff in engineering

WR Engineering, one of the UK’s leading engineering and manufacturing recruiters, has urged employers to address the growing skills gap in the sector, as record numbers of engineers prepare to retire and leave the workforce.

With a recent report into the engineering labour market by the ECITB revealing that 91,000 engineers and 29,000 engineering technicians will have retired by 2026, targeted action will be needed to prevent lasting damage to the sector.

This is compounded by additional research from Engineering UK stating that an additional 1.8m engineers and technically qualified people are needed to bridge skills gaps by 2025.

Lewis Richards, Managing Director of WR Engineering, said: “With UK’s engineering & manufacturing sector teetering on the edge of a steep retirement cliff, it’s clear that concerted efforts will be needed to ensure the current skills shortage doesn’t turn into a talent crisis. 

“As a sector that contributes so much to the UK’s overall economy, avoiding this is of paramount importance’

“However, with an ageing workforce meaning hundreds of thousands of engineering roles will need replacing, companies must do their utmost encourage young people to become engineers and skilled technicians. This can be achieved in a number of ways, whether it’s going into schools to conduct early outreach, developing a relevant EVP, or introducing flexible working.”