The UK’s engineering and sector has a diversity problem. The industry is considerably less diverse than the general population, meaning many groups are underrepresented in the workforce. With diversity of talent comes the diversity of thought that is needed to solve the challenges and drive the innovations of the future. And widening the talent pool opens up opportunities for young people in education today.
Women are the most underrepresented group and make up just 15.7% of the workforce. The number of women working in engineering and tech dropped from 16.5% of the 2022 workforce to 15.7% of the 2023 workforce. That’s 38,000 fewer women working in the sector. This fall in women in the engineering and tech workforce is driven by a fall of 66,000 between the ages of 35 to 64, indicating that women are not staying in the industry.
People from UK minority ethnic groups, disabled people and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds are also underrepresented in the sector.UK minority ethnic groups make up 16% of the rest of the workforce, but just over 12% in engineering and technology. 18% of women working in engineering and technology were from a minority ethnic group compared to only 11% of men. Across the UK workforce, 18% of people report they have a disability, this is just 13.6% in engineering and technology roles.
This underrepresentation will not be addressed by the current cohort coming through education. So, more needs to be done to actively target outreach and engage with young people from these groups, particularly girls.
15.7%
of the engineering and technology workforce are women
11%
of the engineering and technology workforce are people from UK minority ethnic groups
11%
of the engineering and technology workforce are disabled people
24%
of the engineering and technology workforce are from lower socio-economic backgrounds
48%
of the UK workforce are women
13%
of the UK workforce are people from UK minority ethnic groups
15%
of the UK workforce are disabled people
26%
of the UK workforce are from lower socio-economic backgrounds
Our commitment to EDI
We want young people from all groups represented in the engineering and technology sectors, so it's important that our business and everything we do has EDI at heart. ‘Inclusive’ is one of our core values. We talk the talk and walk the walk.
Our priority schools
The engineering and technology workforce needs to become more diverse. We use our EDI criteria to identify priority schools and target (and sometimes ringfence) our programmes. These schools have higher proportions of students who are female, disabled, from UK minority ethnic groups or eligible for free school meals.
