If you’re a freelancer or an umbrella company contractor in the engineering sector, you have some good news waiting for you: 2015 is likely to be your year.
It looks like that, according to a brand new industry survey, the engineering sector is sizing up to be a powerhouse of production over the next 12 months. In fact, 61 per cent of survey respondents working in the sector say they’re quite confident that their employers will see their incomes increasing over the year.
The Confidence Index on Overall Engineering took the time to question 3,500 engineering workers on their opinions about the coming year, discovering that 43 per cent of engineers believing that their firms will need to take on more staff in order to meet growing demand. This could easily result in more contractors or freelancers being called up from the sidelines to take on these new roles; in fact, 41 per cent of those surveyed happened to be some sort of temporary worker.
So where are the biggest sectors that are likely to see growth this year? Well the renewable energy market is thought to be a hot one in 2015, though the oil and gas sector is also understood to undergo growth as the North Sea is plumbed for additional resources. nuclear new build, rail and power generation are also considered to be up there as well.
Honestly I’d love to see the engineering sector take off this year. I know that it’s likely to require a massive influx of freelancers and contractors though, especially because the skills shortage is still causing a massive problem in the UK – and that goes double for STEM jobs. With engineering being the ‘E’ in STEM, there’s just not enough new graduates with enough skills and experience to go around in order to replace those retiring workers that have rightfully earned some much-needed rest and relaxation as they ease into their pensioner years; freelance workers can fill the gap when it comes to the skills shortage, but there’s only so many engineering contractors to go around in the industry. Most of them already have good contracts, and are likely to keep them – there’s only so many hours in the day that you can work, even if you’re a talented and tireless contract worker!
