Engineers are Britain’s second most trusted profession

According to the latest Veracity Index from Ipsos, engineers are now the second most trusted profession in Britain, up from sixth place in 2021.

 Image from Adobestock
Image from Adobestock

The findings, published yesterday, reveal that 87 per cent of people trust engineers to tell the truth, making them second most trusted out of a list of 30 different professions.

The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) worked with the 2022 Ipsos Veracity Index, which has been tracking Britons’ trust in key professions since the 1980s, to include engineering for the fifth year running.

Engineers, which make up 19 per cent of the UK workforce according to Engineering UK, are trusted to tell the truth by almost nine in ten people, closely following nurses (89 per cent) and moving ahead of doctors, teachers and museum curators this year.

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The report also measured trust in engineers by gender and showed just a one per cent percentage point difference between men and women (88 per cent for male, 87 per cent for female). Only 16.5 per cent of engineers and technicians identify as women, something which the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) aims to address through various campaigns.

Professor Bob Cryan CBE, IET president, said: “Engineers play a central role in everyday life, contributing to advancing the world around us and finding solutions to global challenges such as climate change. It’s fantastic to see that nearly nine in ten people trust engineers – this demonstrates the huge level of professionalism and importance of engineers in the UK.”

Cryan added that the last couple of years have highlighted more than ever the vital role engineers play in developing technology to keep our infrastructure and economy running, describing the results as a ‘welcome boost’ to all those in industry and academia working to address shortfalls in engineer numbers across the UK.