Graduates with professional engineering qualifications thrive despite recession

Graduates holding professional engineering qualifications are likely to have held on to their jobs during the economic downturn, according to the Engineering Council’s recent survey of registered engineers.

The Engineering Council surveyed nearly 3,000 registered engineers in the UK and found that only 1.5% were unemployed and seeking work in May this year, well below the national unemployment figure of 7.3%.

The survey findings demonstrate the ongoing demand for engineers with professional qualifications such as chartered engineer (CEng), incorporated engineer (IEng) and engineering technician (EngTech).

Andrew Ramsay, chief executive of the Engineering Council, said, ‘It would be amazing if registered engineers had not suffered some effects from the cold economic climate, but the message from this survey, although a big increase on the 0.6% in this category in 2007, seems to be that qualified engineers are still in demand in the UK.’

The survey also revealed that registered engineers’ earnings have increased since 2007: up 10% for CEngs, 6% for IEngs and 12% for EngTechs. Median annual total earnings in 2010 were £55k for CEngs, £43k for IEngs and £37k for EngTechs.

CEngs in the energy and telecommunications sectors enjoyed the highest salaries, with mean annual earnings approaching £80k, and 11% of CEngs earned more than £100k.

• Find out about becoming a chartered or incorporated engineer
• Find out about the specialist areas of work open to graduate engineers

Posted by Alison_TARGETjobs on 18 August 2010

Comments on ‘Graduates with professional engineering qualifications thrive despite recession’