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 16.9% of the workforce. In 2010, women made up around 10% of the engineering and technology workforce. While the proportion of women is increasing, progress is slow, particularly for a sector that is growing faster than any other.
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 18% of the rest of the workforce, but just over 14% in engineering and technology. At 21%, a higher proportion of women working in engineering and tech are from UK minority ethnic backgrounds compared to other occupations (17%). Across the UK workforce, 19% of people report they have a disability, this is just 14% 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.
16.9%
of the engineering and technology workforce are women
14%
of the engineering and technology workforce are people from UK minority ethnic groups
14%
of the engineering and technology workforce are disabled people
24%
of the engineering and technology workforce are from lower socio-economic backgrounds
56.2%
of the UK workforce are women
17.5%
of the UK workforce are people from UK minority ethnic groups
18.9%
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.
