Salary survey: What’s a UK engineer worth in 2022?

• Mean average salaries rise to £58,108 (a 2.3 per cent increase on last year’s figure)
• 56 per cent of UK engineers have received a pay increase in the past 12 months
• 42 per cent of UK engineers are considering a change of job
• Engineers in academia are the lowest paid but most content

Across the economy the great resignation is underway. After an unsettling couple of years - where hanging on in there became the priority for hunkered down workers – job vacancies are higher than they have been for years and record numbers of people are said to be leaving their current roles to explore new opportunities. This appetite for change is one of the key findings of The Engineer’s latest annual salary survey.

According to this year’s survey, which attracted responses from almost 800 engineers across 11 different sectors, the mean average salary for UK engineers now stands at £58k which marks a modest 2.3 per cent increase on last year’s figure. And whilst more than half of our respondents (56 per cent) have received a pay increase over the past 12 months, for most this has been below the current rate of inflation.

DOWNLOAD A PDF OF THE ENGINEER'S 2021/22 SALARY SURVEY

In a significant shift from last year’s figures, 42 per cent of respondents to our latest survey told us that they are considering a change of job (a 14 per cent year on year increase) whilst 67 per cent would consider transferring to a different sector. Throw declining levels of salary and job satisfaction into the mix and there’s plenty for engineering employers to be concerned about.

One crumb of comfort, perhaps, is that very few of these job seekers are contemplating a move out of engineering. Indeed, our report points to a both growing realisation that an engineer’s skills are transferrable and a burgeoning confidence to pursue opportunities in unfamiliar sectors.

In previous years engineers working in the oil and gas sector have regularly emerged as our highest earners. However, in a reflection of industry’s shifting priorities this no longer appears to be the case. Amongst our sample group average salaries in fossil fuels have been overtaken by those offered in the energy/nuclear and renewables sectors (£63K). The highest average salaries amongst this year’s sample group are to be found in manufacturing sector (£65K)

Commenting on these findings, Robert Harper, managing director of CBSbutler, which supported this year's research said: "We are noticing a spike in the number of vacancies being advertised, and whilst there is also an increase in the number of engineers looking for new roles (be that permanent or contract), that increase is not sufficient to fill all the new vacancies.  We are in the midst of a skills shortage."

As always, this year’s results have been fed into our popular online salary benchmarking tool, where you can see how your salary stacks up against that of your industry peers.

CLICK HERE FOR OUR SALARY BENCHMARKING TOOL 

This year’s survey attracted responses from 788 engineers working across 11 different broad sectors.  94 per cent of respondents are currently working full-time and 90 per cent are in permanent roles. 90 per cent also describe themselves as senior engineers or above,

The Engineer’s salary survey is sponsored and supported by technical recruitment agency CBSbutler, a division of Staffing 360 Solutions Inc