WILL WE EVER CLOSE THE ENGINEERING AND MANUFACTURING SKILLS GAP?
The UK manufacturing industry is calling on the government to step up and do more to encourage young people to consider engineering as a career and, thereby, help to close the skills gap we are currently facing. Unsurprisingly, the report found that to recruit the numbers needed to fulfil the expected demand for roles in 2023, more girls will need to study science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) courses at school, higher education and further education.
Recent research pulled out the top 5 things which the industry and the government can do to encourage more young people to consider careers in STEM. By increasing and improving the education at school level in the hope more young people will go on to study STEM courses in higher education. Many hope that there will be investment in apprenticeship training schemes. Not enough young people know about the different careers in STEM and therefore more career promotion of career progression and opportunities is required.
With living costs increase young people more than ever are demanding more pay, therefore pay at all levels must increase. There is concern that the image around STEM is negative or not as positive as other industries, thus improving the way young people view the industry will have a dramatic effect on employment.
10 | MANE ENGINEERING | JULY 2017