UK engineering contractors increase by over two thirds

The data shows that the number of engineering contractors went from 32,911 in 2011 to 55,393 in 2016, a rise of 68.3 per cent per cent. At the same time, the number of employees in the engineering sector increased by 0.9 per cent, from 203,000 to 205,000.

According to Nixon Williams, a services provider to engineering contractors, the number of self-employed people in the engineering sector has increased at more than three times the rate of the whole economy. The number of self-employed workers in all sectors increased by 17.5 per cent since 2011, from 3,975,152 to 4,672,472.

The growth in self-employment in the engineering sector has been driven disproportionately by women, though the gender imbalance remains stark: 3.2 per cent of engineering contractors are women (1,784) compared to 2.4 per cent in 2011 (800).

According to the Office for National Statistics, which supplied the data, a person is self-employed if they: run their business for themselves and take responsibility for its success or failure. Self-employment can be in the form of a sole trader, a partnership (two or more people who run a business) and an owner of a limited liability company (also responsible running the business).