Money Everywhere – but no Pay Rises for Engineers !!

Posted on 9/02/2017 by

You may read articles in the mainstream press that talk about a recovery in the UK and that things are getting back to normal. In his article in the Telegraph Peter Spence says that ‘many of the indicators of an economic recovery are now in place’. Well I’m not sure what recovery he is talking about as the indicators out there are :

• Limited or No salary increases
• No interest rate rises
• Key indicators down – have a look at the Baltic Dry Index – measures shipping around the world – it’s dead

I think journalists and economists use different statistics and measures depending on what they want to portray. As yet, there is no real recovery. There is money printing (or QE as they like to call it) and gambling on the stock market.

This is not to say that things are not better in the UK for Engineers since the 2008 crisis. Due to a deep skill shortage in the UK it doesn’t take much of an upswing to cause Engineers to be in demand. But unfortunately this does not lead to significant pay increases for our industry. Why ?  Because the focus of our country is not engineering or manufacturing any longer. Britain focuses on financial services - this quote sums it up:

‘As is the case in all modern, first-world societies, the economy of the UK today is overwhelmingly fueled by the strength of its services sector, which accounts for some 78% of the total GDP. The most significant services are : banking, insurance, and business services’.

Britain is a bank. It’s policies and attention is finance and paper shuffling. You never see bankers whining about a lack of pay rises. The money that is printed by the Bank of England doesn't flow into industry and engineering. It's given to the bank so they can buy more banks and lend it to their mates at almost zero interest....free money !!

If you want to make the big bucks then you could head to Europe where Engineering is respected and well rewarded.