SRG Engineering is now recognised as a leading provider of skilled engineering personnel to the process industries.

In early 2008, following a year of significant growth for its recruitment services, SRG Engineering decided to undertake a survey to identify the trends within the market. With an overwhelming response a decision was taken to make this an annual survey.

In the one minute labour survey recently undertaken by SRG Engineering, it is clearly evident that there are still several engineering skills shortages across the process industries in the UK. There is still both inter and intra industry competition for candidates which is adding a further dynamic to the market. EC&I Engineers remain the most difficult discipline to recruit for with Chemical Engineers being a close second.

In today’s uncertain economic market only 8% of companies are finding it easier to recruit engineering staff compared to a year ago, with almost 50% finding it an ever-increasing challenge. However, during the last 12 months there has been a general increase in the recruitment of both contract and permanent staff. These challenges are across the board with all engineering industries showing a similar trend.

Looking ahead to the next 12 months the challenge of recruiting permanent staff will remain with almost half respondents reporting that they are set to increase their permanent headcount in the next year. Companies are also reporting a plan to decrease their reliance on contract staff, however previous surveys have also indicated a similar reduction but this is yet to materialise.

Download a full summary of the 2008 survey.