Engineering and building management : Destinations

According to figures from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) survey, employment rates six months after graduation in 2010 for architecture and building, civil engineering and mechanical engineering graduates were higher than the average for all first degree disciplines (see Table 1). Unemployment has fallen for all four of the engineering and building subjects covered here. Amongst architecture and building graduates, 9.5% of 2010 graduates were unemployed six months after graduation, compared with 10.9% from 2009. Similarly, the unemployment rate fell from 11.9% to 11.4% for civil engineering graduates, from 13.3% to 11.2% for electrical and electronic engineering graduates, and from 11.8% to 9.3% for mechanical engineering graduates. However, the level of unemployment is still higher than for all first degree subjects, which has seen unemployment decrease from 8.9% in 2009 to 8.5% in 2010.

Source: DLHE 2009/10 

It is forecast that due to an ageing workforce, significant numbers of staff will be needed in the engineering and construction sectors to replace those who leave their jobs because of retirement or other reasons. The majority of job opportunities in the medium term will come from meeting replacement demand rather than from any growth or expansion (according to Engineering UK). This is in addition to new jobs being created.

The sector is taking steps to encourage women into engineering and building management careers, but at the moment the UK has the lowest proportion of female engineering professionals in the EU, at only 8.7% (according to Engineering UK).