Last week’s poll: addressing the recruitment gap

The need to boost the number of skilled people entering industry is, as we’re constantly reminded, one of industry’s most pressing issues. In its annual state of the industry report Engineering UK  identified a need to fill up to 124,000 core engineering roles every year at a time when there’s an annual shortfall of  around 59,000 engineering graduates and technicians.

There are numerous ongoing efforts to shift these worrying statistics, from major initiatives aimed at attracting underrepresented groups such as women and people from black and minority ethnic communities to literally hundreds of projects aimed at attracting and inspiring the next generation of engineers.

Yet despite all of this, the figures are proving stubbornly resistant to change.

In last week’s poll we asked for your views on this perennial problem, and specifically how you thought industry’s recruitment issues could be most effectively targeted.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the most popular choice amongst the 363 respondents taking part was improvement to engineering pay, with 41 per cent of respondents agreeing that action here would have a major impact.