Oil and gas tops salary table for junior engineers

The survey, which can be viewed in full here, found the average salary for junior engineers in oil and gas to be £35,566. This was followed closely by chemicals and pharma (£34,557) and materials (£33,990). The lowest average salary was found in telecoms and utilities/electronics (£26,790), while the average engineering salary across all sectors was £32,233.

The ageing nature of the UK’s engineering workforce has been the subject of significant debate in recent years, with many concerned that the impending retirement of many of our most highly-skilled and experienced engineers could lead to crippling skills shortages in a number of key sectors.

But the survey offers some cause for optimism. Of those questioned, the average age of engineer was 44. Engineers in the civil and structural engineering sector are the youngest on average, at 40, while the oldest in the profession can be found in the process industry, with an average age of 45.