Skills Insight: Engineering and manufacturing unpacked – June 2026

A new data-led feature takes a deep dive into the engineering and manufacturing sector, revealing recent history about vacancies that use specific skills.

This time we’re examining the job history of mechanical engineering, one of the key occupations listed in the Industrial Strategy 8, to find out how effectively employers have recently recruited for this demanding role.

(Data source – Lightcast)

Unique postings across the engineering and manufacturing sector (2021-2026)

Job vacancies peaked for most occupations within the engineering and manufacturing sector in 2023. Since then, there’s been a steep decline.

The top five most-posted occupations over the last five years are:

Occupation	Total unique postings 2021-2025	Job postings decline since 2023* High	Job postings Q1 2026
Mechanical Engineer	823,401	-52.6%	27,556
Engineering Technician	773,439	-47.9%	28,071
Production and Process Engineers	674,259	-52.8%	19,850
Assemblers and Routine Operatives *	458,283	-54.3%	15,416
Electrical Engineers	444,766	-46.5%	17,308

*Assemblers and Routine Operatives calculations based on its 2022 peak figure

Apart from Assemblers and Routine Operatives, these roles are all featured as key occupations within the Industrial Strategy 8.

And yet, all engineering and manufacturing sector occupations have experienced a decline in unique job postings since 2023.

Regional specialised skills (2025)

The top specialised skill in three of the UK’s more manufacturing-focused regions in the last five years was machinery. In Scotland, however, it’s electrical engineering.

This could come from the country’s focus on clean energy, with notable strengths in wind farms (both onshore and offshore), hydrogen, marine energy, and carbon capture and storage facilities. Not to mention the existing oil and gas sectors serviced by highly trained and experienced staff.

Seven English regions have machinery as their most requested skill, while in the South East and London their priority lies in this month’s spotlighted occupation.

Spotlight on: Mechanical engineering

Mechanical Engineering covers a broad range of occupations. The over-arching Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) 2212 splits down further into:

• Automotive engineers (professional)
• Marine engineers and naval architects
• Mechanical design engineers.

Vacancy postings for Mechanical Engineering (SOC: 2212) have been on a roller coaster journey over the last 10 years. Vacancy posting numbers peaked in 2017 and 2023, and troughed in 2014 and 2020 (although this was an expected dip due to the Covid-19 crisis).

The numbers declined further from the 2023 peak of 231,000 unique job postings, to 110,000 in 2025. However, our forecasting predicts an increase in job postings of around to around 160,000 in the next 12 months.

Specialised skills data

We’ve pulled data on job vacancy adverts for mechanical engineering roles from 2021 to 2025, to identify which skills are the most and least requested over time. This helps us to paint a picture of what employers needed, and whether workers were meeting that demand.

Most requested specialised skills in vacancy adverts 2021-2025

Skill	Appeared in % of ads
Mechanical engineering	11.9%
Machinery	7.4%
Mechanical design	5.6%
Electrical engineering	4.0%
Hydraulics	2.6%

Largest percentage increase in specialised skills requested in postings 2021-2025

Skill	% Increase
Mechanical systems	1.5%
Technical drawings	0.8%
Technical documentation	0.7%
3D modelling	0.4%
Mechanical engineering	0.4%

Largest percentage decrease in specialised skills requested in postings 2021-2025

Skill	% Decrease
Project engineering	-0.80%
Electromechanics	-0.70%
Computer-aided design	-0.70%
New product development	-0.60%
Engineering management	-0.50%

The top five specialised skills have not dramatically changed over the last five years. The skill with the highest increase, mechanical systems, only climbed 1.5% while the skill with the latest decrease, project engineering, dropped by less than 1%.

Common (meta) skills data

Common skills, or soft skills, are those which rely more on the relationships between people rather than abilities with software or tools. Despite this they’re still a much sought-after part of a job candidate’s skillset.

Most requested common skills in vacancy adverts 2021-2025

Skill	Appeared in % of ads
Problem solving	13.8%
Planning	7.4%
Innovation	6.4%
Detail oriented	5.8%
Troubleshooting	5.0%

Largest percentage increase in common skills requested in postings 2021-2025

Skill	% Increase
Problem solving	5.4%
Troubleshooting	4.8%
Operations	1.7%
Mentorship	1.3%
Reliability	1.3%

The data drawn from analysis of five years of mechanical engineering data from Lightcast indicates that problem solving is the most requested common skill, and the fastest growing.

It’s higher than the need for problem-solving skills in what Enginuity defines as the wider engineering and manufacturing sector, with just 10.3% of those ads calling for problem-solving skills.

Education, experience, and salary

Research into certification and education level for new recruits within mechanical engineering appears to show discrepancy. While the most common required certification is for a chartered engineer at level seven, the most requested education level is level 3, equivalent to A Levels.

Another distinct contrast pops up when looking into the average advertised salary versus years of experience required for a vacant role. Three years of experience advertised as minimum indicates a lower education level, while the average starting salary in 2025 (based on those mentioned within the ads) is £49,800 – this appears to be linked to the level seven educational requirement. It goes to show there have been a wide range of roles within the mechanical engineering sub-category that employers needed to fill over the past few years.

The average salary between 2021 and 2025 has climbed steadily at about 5% per year.

Our take on the engineering and manufacturing skills landscape data

Recent years have brought significant changes to the sector. Job vacancies across most engineering and manufacturing occupations peaked in 2023 but have since seen a marked decline. The post-pandemic rebound in demand for UK-manufactured goods ended in 2023, amid general economic slowdown and a weakening labour market. At the same time, doing business became more expensive due to an increase in interest rates, National Insurance Contributions, and energy bills.

Despite costs rising and demand slowing, employers are benefiting from building their skills capability around local economic drivers. Scotland’s focus on renewable energy makes electrical engineering the most sought-after skill, particularly in regions like the Highlands and Islands, Lothian, and Glasgow.

Our take on the mechanical engineering skills data

The mechanical engineer category SOC 2122 accounts for several specialist occupations including naval architects and automotive engineers. However, vacancy demand has been notably volatile. Given the last decade of roller-coaster advertised vacancy rates, we do expect some recovery as sector activity normalises, as our forecast predicts 160,000 postings over the coming months.

While the need for the same specialised skills has remained stable, we’ve spotted significant change in demand for common skills, or soft skills, in recent years. The focus is moving away from skills like management and planning, and towards troubleshooting and problem solving – suggesting the sector is strengthening its ability to innovate over the coming years.

At an average salary of £49,800, mechanical engineering specialists are earning around £5,000 more than the average for all occupations within the wider engineering and manufacturing sector.

Despite its ups and downs in demand, the role of mechanical engineer remains a vital part of the sector, showing little sign of flux within its job requirements over the last five years.

For more stats from Enginuity’s Skills Insight, follow our LinkedIn page.

Enginuity on LinkedIn