Almost a quarter of respondents believe that engineers are undervalued in the UK.
Engineering pay is always an emotive subject for our readers, and 610 of you responded to our poll last week. It’s a truism bordering on cliche that most people believe they are underpaid, and the results of the poll bear it out once again, with 69 per cent of respondents saying that engineers are undervalued (it might be worth noting that the word ‘undervalued’ encompasses a variety of meanings, not all of which have monetary connotations). There was a large gap between the largest and next options, with 14 per cent saying they felt their salary was a fair reflection of their skills, and 10 per cent said that they didn’t get paid enough and wanted to change jobs. Only a tenth of those saying they felt undervalued – 7 per cent – said that engineers were well rewarded compared with other professions.
The Engineer’s 2017 salary survey is now closed, and we will report the results in our upcoming June issue. In the meantime, please continue to send us your opinions on this subject
‘Engineering’ is far too broad a brush in my view. I’m convinced that the different disciplines (Electrical, Electronic, Mechanical, Civil etc..) will all show different rates of growth (or may be even decline). It would be interesting to hear others views on this.
I’m not sure any answer will be a fair representation of reality – ask a Teacher if teaching is undervalued, or a doctor if medicine and the NHS is undervalued or underfunded and the answer will always be yes (just two recent strike-y sort of examples), and engineering is no different. Most of us are in the industry because we believe in it and enjoy it and it’s no wonder that everyone else doesn’t share our passion or beliefs so strongly. Therefore we (legitimately) feel undervalued and you get an overwhelming vote for this option.
A better option would be to ask Teachers or Doctors about Engineering (and vice versa).
I’ve worked in Electronic Development for 45 years and been broke for every one of them…
Fortunately, my children have noticed what I failed to and kept well away. Hopefully I will be able to afford to eat during my retirement if the children help-out financially.
I wish I had caught-on sooner.
Hear, hear..
When I look at the average salary for the area I live in, and the salary I get paid I have to be glad I got into my current field. Yes I’d like to earn more, and will probably move to another employer in the next 2 years to achieve this, but I’ll stick to the same (similar) skill set that is currently paying my mortgage and pension contributions 🙂
Hilarious. Ask a bunch of engineers if they are paid enough and what will they say?
I’m with EdG:
Oh, and throw in a wunch of bankers to see what they think about engineers.
There’s a growing shortage of engineers in Britain, so by definition we’re underpaid and undervalued. If the pay was higher, there wouldn’t be a shortage…
absolutely spot on …..supply and demand.
Ah ‘they’ tell us there’s a shortage but if there truly were then the salaries would already be on the up – a conspiracy do you think? Get more engineers into the market to keep the wages low..
Any profession that is not about manipulating money is undervalued! Those that generate real wealth or significant services to the public (in Britain) are looked down on.
Interesting view on what your kids do. I have three children, all art grads, not one of them wanted to do engineering after seeing the work/reward ratio that I had. Even though I consider myself moderately succesful. Is this the same true for families in the medical/teaching/law proffesions?
I am in the same group as Robert Dodd; neither of my two offspring wanted anything to do with engineering for similar reasons. Now they are both in their 30’s, and both are in jobs totally unrelated to their ‘arts’ degrees/doctorates. they both chose their university subjects based on their interests, rather than future job/career prospects.
I suspect a lack of career guidance at school, and the perception of ‘engineering’ by school teachers (academics) could be something to do with this?
Forget the money…… No one goes into Engineering if they want a big salary. It is something us Engineers do because it’s in our Blood ! I employ 150 people and every one of them is on a bigger salary than me…… Until our Institutions develop some muscle and protect the name ‘Engineer’ there is no hope…….. The UK Government has no idea what potential it is sitting on – but how could it, all the Politicians are Legally or Financially qualified….. Compare this with China’s Government !! I have one son who has followed my profession, one who has gone into Banking. One is well off and earns 3 times that of the other son – guess which is which??
I fail to understand how a protected title will elevate pay. Either you can do the job or you can’t. If you only allow CEng to work in this country then even more projects will likely shift to overseas.
David Millar, if Engineering is in your blood, and you’re paid less than your employees (a bizarre situation), I’d suggest you get into Banking PDQ whilst you still have some working years left in you!
Having sorted the financial situation, you can return to Engineering as a back-yard inventor and get REAL work satisfaction, not being ordered about by financial men with no idea of the plate-spinning chalenges that Engineers face everyday.
All these opinions are truly valuable and spot on.
But let me say that here in Mexico, our pay is MUCH lower, even for a 38+years of engineering experience, Chemical engineering is way under paid here. I’ve had the pleasure to work with some English engineers years ago (on Hydrocyclone applications for Oil&Gas produced water cleaning. After several months of working together, we ended up becoming very good friends, but they were surprised, then ashamed when they knew the size of our salaries… Amclaussen.
If the sum total of (y)our career onjective(s) is/are to see more zeros after the numbers in our accounts…(which appears to be the only ‘driver’ for any and all of the ‘shams’ ) then so be it.
I’m with those who say that the enjoyment and satisfaction of doing what we do as Engineers is reward enough: let those who want ‘it’ -so that they can brag about such to others similarly mis-guided- have their reward.
Ah the old job satisfaction ticket eh Mike? The nurses know a thing or two about that also. While I accept that we are where we are, it doesn’t make it fair or just. As such I would struggle to advise anyone to take up a career in it. ‘Enjoyment and satisfaction’ don’t pay the bills.
Hi James
In response to your valued comments and the stats listed above i wish to make a broad statement. The profession is undervalued due to a lack of experience, mainly caused by lack of investment where the UK lags behind most developed nations in training (People). Plant &
Equipment is generally obsolete when business is sitting on capital/cash with no idea where to invest. This is due to lack of training/experience in Management, making repeated mistakes,
wrong decisions – short term results at an expense (People). You see the maths?
A circle is a straight line.
Regards Derek
The quality of the engineers, and of physicists and biologists who have been educated in Italy is very high and it is just as true that young people who don’t find work in Italy do so easily abroad: in England, in America, and in Europe in general. You’ll find many Italian engineers in Germany and England and many Italian economists in London.
Young Italian Engineers are here paid 1200-1300 euros a month … !