With the publication of The Engineer’s annual salary survey and pay-related sector insights, we asked whether engineers are paid enough?
On the whole, the engineers who took part in our 2018 salary survey are happy in what they do, but not happy with what they’re paid.
Of the 558 people who took part in our online poll, 68 per cent thought engineering is undervalued, and 10 per cent are so unhappy they are looking to change jobs. As the table below shows, an average of 47 per cent of salary survey respondents are thinking the same way.
Just under a fifth of respondents (19 per cent) to our online poll made positive noises about their pay with 15 per cent believing their salary is fair as it reflects their skills and experience, and four per cent who thought engineers were well rewarded compared to other professions. Three per cent of respondents chose the ‘none of the above option’.
Salary survey snapshot
Over 50 per cent of engineers in eight of the 11 sectors covered in The Engineer Salary Survey 2018 state they are happy in their current jobs, but this isn’t matched with salary satisfaction. At 39.6 per cent, engineers in energy/renewables/nuclear are most satisfied with their remuneration compared to 25.3 per cent of rail/civil & structural engineers.
As outlined in the full report, average engineering salaries haven’t changed much over the past 12 months. Indeed, the overall mean average salary for engineers taking part in the survey is actually lower than last year, standing at £47,896 in 2018 compared to £48,197 in 2017.
Detailed analysis of this year’s survey results – including average salary breakdowns by sector, region and seniority – can be found here. You can see how your salary stacks up against that of your industry peers using our online salary benchmarking tool.
Engineers can not be grouped under one heading. Before any meaningful poll can be taken, Engineers need to be defined. S
Many so called engineers are not worthy of the name.
Just like many other technical and science professions, keeping updated with the industry is a continuous process. A decent salary will keep the professional motivated to be current with the technological trends. In do so, the whole industry including the employer will be uplifted and eventually benefit from knowledgeable workers (engineers). The reality is that this is not always happening because of the poor salary that an engineer takes home as compared to other sectors.
Qualified engineers are little respected in the UK comparing for instance a Chartered Engineer with a Chartered Accountant despite the fact that engineering requires a far wider knowledge base than accountancy. The responsibility is also higher where failure can result in very serious physical consequences , whilst for example accountancy and banking result in less serious financial failure.
What an engineer is paid is dependant on age, experience, location and what field of engineering. That said I’m a poorly paid (by current poll) chartered engineer over 50 working in valves for O&G in Yorkshire: more money would always be nice but I enjoy my work, can’t put a price on that.
We manipulate Nature’s laws…they (the rest of the so-called professions) manipulate man’s to the benefit of whoever can pay the most? So, are we paid enough? As Chris so rightly states: one cannot put a price on the personal stimulation and pleasure received from practising our Noble profession. We spend most of our lives keeping our clients out of trouble: They (the shams) only become active when the ‘s**t has already hit the fan?
I have long thought that engineers should have protected status, but, where do you draw the line?
Chartered as a minimum? but then an engineer (I do mean engineer) with few qualifications but lots of experience would not be eligible! Difficult problem even for engineers, but, I believe it would make the profession better valued and more respected.
I voted “undervalued” because that was my instant gut reaction.
But….thinking about it (i.e., putting realz before feelz), they are not. The market is what sets the salary, so by definition you are not undervalued unless there is something the market has missed. Clearly this is not the case, because people have been saying engineers are undervalued for decades, and the market does not take that long to correct itself.
The fact of the matter is, gents, that smart people are not rare. Good engineers are not rare. We live in a labour market open to 500 million people, many of whom are better trained than us because they have better education (the French engineering schools are amazing). There is just too much supply of engineering talent for the demand, to warrant engineers being paid more than they are being paid now.
I opted for the second category. A few years ago I kicked up a stink when my employers found it difficult to recruit quality candidates. They listened to my grievances admitted there were shortfalls & adjusted accordingly . Everything was fine with regular linked increases up until the whole Brexit nonsense kicked off. In summation I feel my employers pay me fairly for what I do, but the financial stresses of everyday life are a result of a government that cares not one jott about the manufacturing industry, their inability to govern effectively for the good of all & not just a few, results in rising living costs, inflated fuel prices & a devalued pound. I feel it is unfair to expect my employer to pick up the cost of a floundering government as we have all had to pick up the cost of an inept banking industry.
Some good points Alan, though I don’t think the banking industry is inept just greedy. They knew exactly what they were doing and don’t care about the average person trying to make a living. It is about time the Government supported British Manufacturing in Britain instead of giving tax breaks to foreign businesses, who then take all the profit back to their own country. They need to invest in educating British Engineers that hopefully could produce the next iPhone, thus improving our GDP. Then we would not be so reliant on these greedy elitist bankers.
I work in a sales branch of a global manufacturer. The sales people always say they are the most important because without sales everybody would be out of a job. IT will say they are most important because without the systems we would not be able to operate. Accounts say they are most important because we have to adhere to law and control our cash. Logistics say they are most important because they deliver the goods to the customers. Engineers say nothing. They just get on with the business of producing goods. Without those goods there would be nothing to sell, so no need for sales. Without goods there would be nothing to deliver, so no need for logistics. Without sales there would be no cash to worry about, so no need for accountants. Without business there would be no need for IT. So who is King; the engineer. However, we know that sales get paid more. Why? I suspect engineers are not just in it for the money but for the love of the job.
Of course, a poorly paid salesman must be a poor salesman. If you can’t sell yourself, what can you sell?
Every time I see the word industry added to anything which isn’t, I reach for my thesaurus .
By definition anything which claims to be something it isn’t must be flawed.
Of all the professions, the engineer is probably the least visible to the world at large. Who has heard someone say “the engineers did a great job on” this new phone screen, road junction, car suspension or whatever. As long as the phones work, the food turns up in the supermarket or the water comes out of the tap, those that made it happen won’t be given a thought whether as an employer (Quote ” I don’t give a ****** as long as the goods go out of the door”) or a consumer.
For qualified engineers and scientists who spend years in training (often amassing astronomical debts in the process thanks to our unsustainable university system), I don’t think the compensation is enough, especially when compared to brick layers, plumbers and other tradesmen who seem to be able to earn around twice the average engineers salary at the moment.
A note on the word ‘industry’, it derives from the Roman virtue Industria meaning hard work https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtue#Roman_virtues while I’m sure all the respondents are hard-working engineers, I for one would not claim the monopoly on hard work
It seems to me that employment is pretty much a free market over the long term – supply and demand and all that. So if engineers were underpaid, there would be a shortage engineers… which is exactly what we are told is happening. Our employers are reaping what they sow.
Engineers think that engineers are undervalued? I can’t exactly say I’m surprised or that these results are all that meaningful. If you ask anyone from any industry, chances are they feel undervalued or undercompensated where they are.
Just to take-up Trevor’s point.
The derivation of the Word Engineer is obvious -pertaining to engines?
The derivation of the word used to define our European colleagues: Ing has its roots in ingenious which is only a syllable away from genius! And we Engineers all surely believe we might be such!
Perhaps this is why our European colleagues are so well valued in ‘their’ societies and we are not in ours? Semantics? And we all know who knows all about that? Well don’t we?