THE BLACK HOLE IN AEROSPACE:
SECTOR SKILLS SHORTAGE
Air traffic is increasing, and there is little reason
to think that this will not continue.
By 2035 it is predicted that there will be
need for:
Every year since 2009 (following the global
recession) passenger numbers have increased
by between 5% and 8%. The industry is
growing, and will continue to grow.
 29,000 new passenger and
freight aircraft
 10,400 planes to replace existing
ones
 24,000 business jets
 40,000 helicopters
But are enough engineers entering the industry
to meet the increasing demand? For most
experts, the answer is a resounding no.
The aim of this document
Using the latest data and opinions from the
industry’s leading experts, this paper will briefly
examine how the industry is set to grow, and
where the key skills shortages are. It will also
look at the factors influencing the shortages,
and potential solutions to this problem.
The UK market
The UK has the world’s second biggest
aerospace sector, accounting for 17% of
worldwide sales. This comprises more than
3000 companies involved in the aerospace
supply chain, employing 230,000 people either
directly or indirectly.
For employers in the aerospace industry, this is
a timely summary of an issue that may well get
worse before it gets better.
The domestic sector is responsible for
generating approximately £28 billion in revenue
per year, £24.7 billion of which is through
exports. Since 2011, the industry has grown 10
times quicker than the UK economy (enjoying
9.4% annual growth), with a further 6.8%
growth expected over the next 2 years. The UK
also has a large maintenance, repair and
overhaul (MRO) sector and is responsible for
17% of the $45 billion global MRO industry.
Continued growth: the global
market
Airbus predicts that air traffic will continue to
grow annually at 4.7% over the next 20 years.
That will necessitate 29,000 new passenger
and freight aircraft valued at nearly $4.4 trillion.
That’s not forgetting the 10,400 planes that will
need to replace existing ones over the same
period.
Domestic Sector Value Split
MRO
Trade organisation ADS also predict that
24,000 business jets, 5,800 regional aircraft
and 40,000 helicopters will be needed.
Much of the global growth will be driven be
emerging markets. Currently only one fifth of
populations in emerging markets fly annually,
but this will rise to two thirds by 2032.
Freight
24.7bn
Passenger
3.3bn
Industry growth has been
quicker than the UK economy
And Airbus have forecasted that by 2032 AsiaPacific will lead the world in air traffic, at which
point global passenger numbers will hit 6.7
billion a year. To put that into perspective, it’s
double the current number.
9.4%
Since
2011
6.8%
Within the repair and
overhaul (MRO) The UK
holds 17% of the Market
worth $45bn
Predicted
next 2yrs
Due to this growth, the UK has become a victim
of its own success. The Institute of Engineering
and Technology (IET) has estimated that
87,000 new engineers will be needed each
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year until 2020 to keep pace with this
expected progression. As of 2012, only 23,000
graduates majored in engineering, falling
well short of the target.
Job titles argued to be in shortage
within the aerospace industry
Continued shortages
To maintain this upward curve, the UK
evidently needs to develop far more engineers
than it is at present.
According to the Employer Skills Survey in
2011, 59% of employers are concerned that a
scarcity of engineers could pose a threat to
their business in the future. The same survey
showed that 32% of engineering vacancies are
considered ‘hard-to-fill’, approximately twice
that of the UK average. Furthermore, nearly
half (48.3%) of engineering enterprises said
that recruitment difficulties had caused delays
in developing new products and increased
operating costs.
General description
Electrical engineers
Specific job titles
Electrical machine design engineer
Power electronics engineer
Production and
process engineers
Manufacturing engineer (process
planning)
Manufacturing engineer (purchasing)
Engineering
professionals
Chief of engineering
Stress engineer
Aerothermal engineer
Advance tool and fixturing engineer
Manufacturing engineer (purchasing)
Buyers and
procurement officers
Aircraft maintenance
and related trades
Licensed and military certifying
engineer/
inspector technician
Other experts have pointed to the lack of
engineers in specialist areas that require a
multi-disciplinary approach. Systems engineers
are just one example. They typically require a
great deal of technical knowledge, but also
need strong experience in project management
and other human-centred disciplines. This mix
of ability is not built, or recruited, easily.
This tangible effect is one that will continue into
the future if the deep-rooted issues surrounding
engineering education are not addressed.
A lack of specialists
59% of employers are concerned that a
scarcity of engineers could pose a
threat to their business in the future
Interestingly, the same report suggests that
there is no evidence to support a shortage
among mechanical engineers. But this view
reflects the fact that mechanical engineering as
a sub-discipline has seen the biggest annual
increase in graduate numbers in recent years.
Last year, mechanical engineering graduates
increased by 14.5%, whereas manufacturing
engineering graduates increased by only 1.6%.
Aerospace is one such area which causes
great concern. Modern aircraft are becoming
increasingly complex, placing greater emphasis
on the need for very specific engineering skillsets; those which are not being developed in
large enough quantities.
For example, engineers with composite
material experience are in exceptionally high
demand. This is largely due to the industry’s
growing focus on its environmental impact –
composites make aircraft more fuel-efficient.
Some of the causes
Lack of science, technology, engineering
and maths (STEM) graduates
Due to the high-skill nature of aerospace roles,
degree-level qualifications are expected for
white-collar positions, making graduates in the
sector highly employable.
Elsewhere, the government’s Migration
Advisory Committee have recently determined
that job titles such as manufacturing engineer,
stress engineer and aerothermal engineer
should be placed on their ‘shortage occupation
list’. Also on that list are various specialisms
within electrical engineering – a field that is
facing the dual challenge of rapid growth in
demand, and rapid decline in graduate supply.
Within six months of graduating, 77.5% of
nationwide engineering graduates enter
employment – a figure almost 20% higher than
the average across all subjects. While the
demand is clearly there, there is a deep-rooted
problem within the supply chain.
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In aerospace, the key shortages are in very
specific areas, demanding skills that take many
years to develop and refine. These skills not
only need to be replaced; they need to be
passed on. Apprenticeships in the near future
are therefore a vital part of the solution.
The Royal Academy of Engineers said in 2012
that 104,000 STEM graduates were needed
every year until 2020 to maintain the status
quo. Although engineering graduate numbers
have increased by 12% since 2012, only
104k
22k
STEM Graduates are
needed each year
Shortfall of STEM
Graduates each year
Apprenticeship take-up remains
low
82,000 STEM students are graduating each
year, far below the necessary level.
56,000 engineering apprentices are
needed every year until 2022. In
2012/13 the actual figure was 25,978
One revealing problem is that the first year
non-continuation rate for engineering and
technology degrees is 15.6%. This is well
above the national average for other subjects.
While this suggests that these students lacked
the knowledge for the course, it is possible that
a lack of sufficient education at a lower level
could be a contributing factor.
According to Engineering UK’s annual report,
56,000 engineering apprentices are needed
every year until 2022. In 2012/13 the actual
figure was 25,978 – less than half of what’s
needed.
Clearly apprenticeships are vital to the
aerospace industry, because it’s a sector that
relies on skills that can only be developed onthe-job. The number of apprenticeships
undertaken is increasing every year, but
greater rates of increase are needed.
Problems at school
As with most recruitment problems, the
fundamental causes go a long way back.
School children have typically underperformed
in GCSE science and maths in recent years.
And unsurprisingly, A-level science take-up has
remained stubbornly low.
Limits to recruiting from abroad
With India producing eight times as many
engineers as the UK, and China 20 times as
many, one of the solutions inevitably lies in
Reasons for this are varied, but some worrying
trends in teaching quality could be significant.
For example, only 45% of secondary school
maths teachers have a degree, while 34% of
physics teachers don’t have a relevant post Alevel qualification.
These statistics allude to the lack of teachers
within STEM subjects, and therefore a
dependence on under-qualified and overworked teachers from other, less relevant
disciplines.
UK
1
India
8
China
10
recruiting from abroad.
However, the engineering shortage is actually a
global problem, and countries will increasingly
be doing more to hold on to home-grown
specialists.
Retiring engineers
The average age of an engineer in Britain is
54. That’s the fundamental issue that
underpins the looming skills shortages.
Government plans to reduce immigration will
exacerbate the problem. Plans to reduce nonEU immigration could be particularly damaging,
given that so much of the world’s future
engineering talent will come from India and
China. That’s not forgetting the EU
Referendum that’s on the horizon, which could
Experts have called it a ‘retirement cliff’ in
engineering, and it will mean that a huge
number of engineers will need to be replaced.
But it’s far more complicated than that.
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have huge ramifications for European
recruitment.

Then there’s the issue of visa restrictions. A
visa to work beyond four months after
graduating in the UK requires a job that pays at
least £20,300 a year. That rules out most
apprenticeships and many entry-level
engineering positions. In certain areas the
required salary is even higher – much-needed
electrical engineers, for example, must earn
£23,600. These restrictions seem ridiculous
given the shortages that are currently faced.


Offering flexible, part-time, work-sharing
and phased retirement options will help
to retain key skills for longer
More needs to be done in terms of
apprenticeships and mentoring, in
which senior engineers can train others
Meaningful incentives need to be
offered to senior engineers in return for
sharing their knowledge
Develop long-term strategies
The widespread concern within engineering
businesses has led to 74% developing
strategies to address the talent shortages.
Meanwhile, the consistently high tuition fees
and anti-immigration rhetoric are pushing
international students away from the UK. For
example, in 2013 there was a 25% drop in the
amount of students coming to the UK from
India and Pakistan.
8% Partnering with
Educational Bodies
6% Other
13% New Recruits
Developed
Lack of female engineers
25% Talent Sourcing
Engineering desperately needs more women,
but the statistics are damning in this area.
38% Staff Training
A further 20% have adjusted their work models
by redesigning working procedures and
focusing on improving their talent pipeline.
Worryingly though, the same study reports that
26% of employers have no current strategy to
address these talent shortages.
The UK has the lowest proportion of
female engineers in the EU at 10%.
The UK has the lowest proportion of female
engineers in the EU at 10%. The IET recently
stated that there has been no significant
increase in the number of female engineers in
the UK in the last three years. Another survey
found only 2% of parents would like their
daughter to become an engineer.
Create multi-faceted graduate
schemes and apprenticeships
Clearly, graduate schemes and
apprenticeships need to be improved to attract
and develop much-needed engineering
specialists.
This is a complex and serious limitation to the
long-term engineering supply chain.
Possible solutions
But more emphasis must be placed on
graduate schemes that provide hands-on
experience in numerous disciplines and
departments.
It’s not all bad news.
Employers and think-tanks are already finding
effective ways of coping with this challenge.
Some companies are reaping the benefits from
doing precisely this. Cabin furniture designers
Zodiac Seats UK offer graduates four different
three-month experiences from a choice of 10
within the company. Not only is this interesting
and varied for graduates, but it’s helping to fill
niche positions for Zodiac.
Work creatively with senior engineers
While the focus will inevitably be on graduates,
it may be older engineers that hold the key to
this problem.
After all, in aerospace the difficulty is finding
people with specialist skills; the skills senior
engineers possess in abundance.
This example should be replicated, but needs
commitment from all relevant parties –
universities and colleges, government and
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their career. The Engineer has suggested that
only 30% of engineering graduates end up
working for companies whose primary activity
is engineering.
employers. The problem is shared, so the
solution must be too.
Engage with schools
Employers need to work harder to offer
teenagers placements and work experience as
early as possible.
The point is, if employers are desperate for
highly skilled specialists, they need to address
what these skilled specialists are concerned
about. And in many cases, that concern is pay.
The Department for Education has found that
children who have direct experience of the
labour market at age 16 or 17 are more likely to
be in full-time employment as adults. And
Engineering UK states that employer
engagement in education has ‘profound and
long-lasting consequences for young people.’
Recruit more women
Only 10% of Britain’s professional
engineers are women
The problem of the lack of women in
engineering is obviously also a huge
opportunity.
So, if employers want young people to fill their
skill-gaps in the future, they have to take
responsibility for introducing them to
engineering today. Tomorrow’s Engineers, for
example, led by Engineering UK and the Royal
Academy of Engineering, is an initiative that
aims to inspire the next generation. Working
with businesses, charities and not-for-profit
organisations, their goal is to educate young
people about the benefits and opportunities in
studying STEM subjects.
Only 10% of Britain’s professional engineers
are women – a staggeringly low amount. But
what is holding women back from the industry?
More than anything else, research suggests it’s
the industry’s reputation. And reputational
issues start at home – there’s an undeniable
need to make engineering more attractive to
parents of young women.
Fixing this reputation must start by raising
awareness, and that is beginning to happen.
The lack of female engineers is now regularly
reported within mainstream media.
Their schools programme reached out to over
40,000 young people throughout 2014,
including activities such as visits, workshops
and career days. It is hoped that this initiative
will encourage a larger number of engineering
graduates in the future.
Beyond this, many experts have cited the lack
of female role models as a barrier. The
problem of course is cyclical, because without
female engineers, there are no role models in
the first place. But the industry needs to do a
better job of celebrating the success stories of
female engineers.
Assess salaries
The average salary for an aerospace engineer
is currently just under £31,000. This is around
£5,000 higher than the average UK salary.
A good example of this is the Royal Academy
of Engineering’s recent report ‘Britain’s got
talented female engineers’. Through the
personal journeys of a number of female
engineers, it shows just how and why
engineering can be an extremely fulfilling
career for women. These first-hand stories
could be vital in helping to sway the opinions
not only of young women, but their parents too.
Meanwhile engineering graduates can expect
higher starting salaries than graduates from the
majority of other subjects.
Only
30%
Engineering graduates
end up working for
companies whose
primary activity is
engineering
Despite this, engineers consistently complain
about low pay. Specialist engineering recruiter
Roevin explained that engineering salaries fell
by 7% between 2013 and 2014. Therefore,
many engineering graduates take their skills to
other, more highly paid industries early on in
Government backing
Despite strong controls on public spending, the
government continues to offer strong support
for science and engineering.
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The Chancellor has increased investment in
the industry, including a long-term commitment
to investment in science infrastructure of £1.1
billion in real terms to 2021. This brings overall
investment in science and research to £5.8
billion for 2015/16.
During the 2013/14 financial year, UK
recruitment agencies were responsible for
635,000 permanent placements across a
variety of sectors. On any given day during
2014, 1.15 million Britons were on contract
assignments through an agency.
Summary: A shared problem
Furthermore, of the 1.15 million daily contract
vacancies, blue-collar and technical
engineering roles made up 21.1% and 15.3%
of total agency hires respectively.
The issue of skills shortages in aerospace
engineering is being consistently exacerbated
by growth. Indeed, much of the excitement
surrounding the growth of the sector is
premature given the impending recruitment
headaches.
All of these figures suggest that recruitment
agencies have an important role to play in
helping businesses solve the engineering skills
shortage. And given the abundance of contract
vacancies within the industry, businesses
should think seriously about working with
agencies to prevent costly staffing delays.
In short:





Not enough young people are becoming
engineers, or studying STEM subjects
in the first place
The industry is relying too heavily on a
large number of senior experts who are
set to retire within the next 10-20 years
Aerospace is lacking skilled specialists
in areas like composites – disciplines
that require a great deal of knowledge
and experience
The shortages are global, and recruiting
from abroad is not a long-term solution
One of the biggest opportunities lies in
recruiting more female engineers
And perhaps the most noticeable problem with
the response to this challenge so far is that it
has been too fragmented.
If this significant and complex problem is to be
solved, it will require the integrated efforts of
government and industry. Responsibility must
be taken on both sides.
How recruitment can help
Globally, it is estimated that by 2019, 5.9% of
the global working population will be
unemployed – some 212 million people.
Despite this huge excess, there is an evergrowing mismatch between the skill-sets in
demand and those that are looking for work. In
the UK, the unemployment figure remains at
5.7% (1.86 million people), yet 38% of UK
employers have experienced difficulties in filling
roles.
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Sources
‘The state of engineering’ – Engineering UK 2015 (http://www.engineeringuk.com/EngineeringUK2015/EngUK_Report_2015_Interactive.pdf)
‘Warning over shortage of engineering candidates’ – bbc.co.uk (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-19760351)
‘Skilled, Shortage, Sensible’ – The Migration Advisory Committee
(https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/257241/mac-report.pdf)
‘Immigration: the problem for engineering’ – The Institution of Engineering and Technology
(http://eandt.theiet.org/magazine/2015/03/immigration.cfm)
‘Engineering and Technology: Skills and Demand in Industry’ – The Institution of Engineering and Technology
(http://www.theiet.org/factfiles/education/skills2013-page.cfm)
‘Opportunities in the aero industry supply chain’ – The Engineer (http://www.theengineer.co.uk/in-depth/opportunities-in-the-aero-industrysupply-chain/1018962.article)
‘Global aerospace report 2014’ – Clearwater International (http://clearwaterinternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Aerospace-ReportMaster-2014.pdf)
‘The myth of engineering low pay’ – The Engineer (http://www.theengineer.co.uk/blog/the-myth-of-engineering-low-pay/1019256.article)
‘Plug the skills gap and watch UK aviation soar in 2015’ – aerospace-technology.com (http://www.aerospacetechnology.com/features/featureplug-skills-gap-and-watch-uk-aviation-soar-in-2015-says-matchtechs-mark-edwards-4486105/)
‘Britain’s got talented female engineers’ – Royal Academy of Engineering (http://www.raeng.org.uk/publications/other/britains-got-talentedfemale-engineers)
‘Britain is facing a “retirement cliff” in engineering’ – bbc.co.uk (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-27764671)
Stats from Visa Bureau, HESA and Payscale
Aerospace
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