Institute of Cast Metal Engineers – ICME – June 2008
Demand For Skills In the UK Economy is Ever Changing
The manufacturing sector is not immune and has seen the largest fall in employment overall. During the last two decades it has been reported that employment within this sector has declined considerably and that indications show this trend to continue for the next few years.
This decline has been mirrored by the drop in students enrolling on engineering and manufacturing related courses and the foundry industry is no exception. This is also coupled by a high number of qualified and experienced foundry personnel leaving the profession for careers in more lucrative areas.
Consequently, skill sets such as metallurgists are in great demand as reported to us by our UK clients. There are other shortages of personnel for the industry and as a result the market is now very much candidate led.
Companies need to work harder than in any other sector to attract quality recruits with the right skills. This is particularly accurate as during recent months, we have found an increasing number of foundries and metal related companies have approached us to recruit for a wide variety of roles at all levels including graduates.
Overall there appears to have been an upturn in business opportunities and foundries have informed us of an encouraging level of business, with good forward orders and a somewhat upbeat attitude towards the future, provided they can source the correct number and type of personnel.
