The Institute of Mechanical Engineers is calling on the Government and education authorities, including Bradford, to make more effort to boost the number of people taking up a career in engineering.
Stephen Tetlow, chief executive of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, said: “There is still a widespread failure to grasp the scale of the skills gap facing the UK.
“On the face of it, the latest figures from the Engineering Council look good with the number of professional engineers across the country growing by 17 per cent last year.
“But with the ageing workforce and so many retiring from engineering, the total number of engineers and technicians in the country increased by only three people.’’ The institute has seen a growth of more than 100 per cent over the last five years, although the last ten years has seen a ten per cent decline in professionally-registered engineers with the numbers in the UK now standing at 222,603.
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