An Overview
This section covers four professional fields. Their respective industries can be volatile and often the first destinations of the graduates follow similar trends reflecting the state of the UK industry in the global marketplace. Practitioners in these industries frequently work together and may hold qualifications in common. According to the Engineering Council, in 1998 the engineering industry in Britain formed a key part of the £177 billion manufacturing and production business. It directly employed 1.8 million people and produced manufactured and semi-manufactured goods exports worth £149 billion a year. Nowadays, the construction industry employs over 60,000 professional engineers as designers, project managers, civil and structural engineers and in other professional roles, and the industry accounts for 5% of the UK gross domestic product. The Construction Industry Training Board predicts that the industry will need to attract 370,000 new recruits over the next five years at all levels, from graduates to skilled crafts people, to keep up with demand. However, the number of students studying building and construction at graduate level continues to fall. According to figures from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, there has been a 5% drop in applications for these courses in 2001, so this is an issue the industry will need to address with regards to future graduate recruits. Destinations
Professional engineers are not only employed in engineering and construction companies but also in other industrial and business sectors. According to the Engineering Council, over half a million professional engineers are employed throughout the whole economy, with less than half employed in the manufacturing and construction sectors and with the remaining 55% or so spread throughout almost all sectors of the economy. This is an indication of how an engineering degree is increasingly considered by employers to be an excellent 'general' qualification. The table below compares the first destinations of engineering and building management graduates in 2000 and 1997. In 2000, 75.9% of engineering and building management graduates were in employment six months after graduation, well above the average of 68.4% for all first degree subjects. Whilst the majority of these are in the areas of engineering and technology, a significant percentage entered the business and commercial professions.
| | The first destinations of engineering and building management graduates, 1997-2000 | | Numbers graduating (survey respondents) | Entering employment [%] | Entering further study/ training [%] | Unemployed at time of survey [%] | Other [%] | | 2000 | 1997 | 2000 | 1997 | 2000 | 1997 | 2000 | 1997 | 2000 | 1997 | All First Degree Subjects | 170,751 | 171,279 | 68.4 | 67.8 | 19.2 | 19.4 | 5.5 | 6.9 | 6.9 | 5.9 | Building | 3,556 | 4,459 | 75.9 | 73.8 | 15.1 | 15.5 | 3.8 | 6.1 | 5.2 | 4.6 | Civil Engineering | 1,322 | 1,944 | 80.9 | 76.8 | 10.8 | 13.0 | 3.0 | 5.3 | 5.3 | 4.9 | Electrical & Electronic Engineering | 2,221 | 2,508 | 76.3 | 76.0 | 12.1 | 12.2 | 7.5 | 8.6 | 4.1 | 3.2 | Mechanical Engineering | 1,879 | 1,992 | 71.8 | 76.2 | 13.7 | 12.7 | 6.7 | 6.3 | 7.7 | 4.8 | All Engineering & Building Management | 8,978 | 10,903 | 75.9 | 75.3 | 13.4 | 13.8 | 5.2 | 6.6 | 5.5 | 4.3 |
The 5.2% overall unemployment rate in 2000 for engineering and building management graduates is slightly lower than the 5.5% average for all first degree subjects. Building and civil engineering graduates have some of the lowest unemployment rates, reflecting the skills shortages currently being encountered by the construction sector. Between 1997 and 2000, the unemployment rate for all first degree subjects has fallen by 1.4% and this trend has also been reflected in that for engineering and building management graduates. However, despite the electronics sector being one of the fastest growing and best performing sectors of the UK economy, particularly in telecommunications and IT, electrical and electronic engineering graduates recorded higher than average levels of unemployment. This could be partly due to an increasing number of graduates entering the market from other subject areas such as IT, thus making competitions more severe. Graduate Salaries
According to Prospects Today, in the year to May 2001, the average salary offered to graduates from 'any engineering' was £18,309, above the £17,786 average for all subjects. Electrical and electronic engineering graduates were also offered above average salaries of £18,065 and £18,461 respectively. These figures are shown in the graph below.
Further Resources
Engineering Trends (Quarterly): Business Trends Survey and Economic Review, Engineering Employers Federation. Types of jobs in the following job categories: AGCAS publications are available in your local higher education careers service, or you can order publications from CSU. Useful Web Sites
On this site for a wealth of careers related information by exploring types of jobs and options with your subject. Association of Building Engineers (ABE) Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) Engineering Council UK (ECUK) IInstitution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) Chartered Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors (ICES) Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE) |
