Survey reveals employment boost in design

The number of design engineers employed in the UK stabilised last year. According to the latest Manufacturing Trends Survey by Benchmark Research – part of Findlay Publications, which publishes Eureka – there were just over 86,000 design engineers in the UK, a fall of just 0.3% compared with 2006. As recently as 2004, Benchmark figures show that there were more than 100,000 UK design engineers. In the 10 years since the survey began, there has also been a shift in the employment of design engineers. In 1997, 74% worked in discrete companies with more than 20 employees. This proportion has now fallen to 56%. Over the same period, those working outside manufacturing (at ‘design only’ sites) swelled from 12% to 31%. Proportionately more are also working within smaller companies. “This suggests that the industry structure is changing, with engineering design work increasingly moving to smaller, niche, technical specialists and consultants outside core manufacturing industry,” says the study. A longer version of this story appears in this month’s Eureka. The full survey can be seen here An executive summary can be downloaded from the link below.