The engineering construction industry spans sectors that focus on the processing, maintenance and decommissioning of heavy industry, including oil and gas, nuclear, power generation, renewables, chemicals, food and drink, pharmaceuticals and water treatment.
The this week reveals that 71% of employers in Great Britain are experiencing challenges in hiring workers, up from 53% in 2021, when the census was last conducted. Electrical engineers, pipefitters, riggers and design technicians are among the hardest to fill vacancies, the census found.
Some of the primary reasons cited include a shortage of qualifications and skills among candidates, a mismatch between candidate expectations and what employers can offer, a lack of applicants, mobility and location issues, and increased competition from other employers and sectors.
The report also highlights that despite an increase in the number of workers under 30 now working in the industry, up from 14.7% of the workforce in 2021 to 16.8% now, this is not enough to counterbalance the impact of the upcoming wave of possible retirements, with the proportion of workers over the age of 60 increasing from 11.6% in 2021 to 14.7% today.
The census highlights craft roles as a particular area of concern, with the average worker tending to be older than the industry average. For example, 30% of platers, 24% of welders and 20% of pipefitters are over 60.
ECITB chief executive Andrew Hockey said: 鈥淭he census is vital in helping industry understand labour market dynamics, anticipate workforce challenges and develop strategies to address skill gaps across Great Britain.
鈥淭he hiring challenges are predominantly for skilled workers where engineering construction companies are competing to recruit from the same pool of experienced workers. But we also need to increase the pool of people joining the industry 鈥� training new recruits, encouraging people to embark on a career in the ECI and increasing training provider capacity to grow new entrant number.鈥�
The data will be used to feed into the ECITB鈥檚 labour forecasting tool (LFT), which estimated in November 2023 that the demand for new workers needed in the industry by 2028 could be much higher than previously thought.
The census gathered information on 74,609 workers at 162 organisations, representing 78.8% of the in-scope workforce, up from 45,000 workers in 2021.
It found that nuclear is now the largest sector in the engineering construction industry, in terms of workforce size, comprising 39.2% of all workers, surpassing oil & gas at 35.2%. The renewables sector has seen rapid growth over the past three years, nearly doubling its in-scope workforce share to 6.2%. Emerging sectors such as hydrogen (1.1%) and carbon capture (1.2%) have also seen significant growth in the last three years.
The proportion of women in the industry increased from 13.8% in 2021 to 16.9%.
Hockey added: 鈥淭hanks to a record response rate from the ECI, up from 54% of the workforce covered in 2021 to 78.8%, the ECITB will now be able to provide more precise, up-to-date data to industry and make predictions on future workforce trends and labour demands.
鈥淚ndustry will benefit from this high-quality database for the next three years. The Census data will help inform training interventions and ensure accurate representation of industry in our discussions with governments and other partners.
鈥淚t will also inform the work currently underway in developing our next strategy on which we will be consulting industry in the spring.鈥�
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