State of Manufacturing report shows recruitment struggles

Oshin Cassidy, chief people and culture officer at Essentra PLC believes that while there are many highly-skilled jobs and careers in manufacturing, these are often lost in a stereotypical and incorrect portrayal of the sector as ‘unskilled labour’. “This is harmful to the inflow of new talent,” Cassidy commented.

More than three quarters (77 per cent) of those surveyed reported problems filling vacancies, and a similar figure (74 per cent) were said to lack the necessary skills their prospective employers require.

Few sectors are finding it easy to recruit the engineers, but there is variation across the verticals; over 90 per cent of respondents from the automotive, oil & gas, and aerospace sectors said they are struggling to recruit, but this figure falls to 58 per cent for the energy sector and 38 per cent for consumer goods. 

The findings also suggest that recruitment difficulties vary according to company size, with 97 per cent of respondents from the largest companies (employing 5,000 plus) reporting challenges filling vacancies, whilst just over half of respondents from the smallest companies represented (1-9 employees) report similar problems.