Press releaseWednesday 02 July 2008

DEMAND FOR ENGINEERING CONTRACTORS STRENGTHENING AS NEW ENGINEERING ORDERS JUMPS 4.1% ON LAST YEAR

• Half of new engineering jobs in design or management positions

Demand for engineering contractors, particularly white collar designers and project managers, is strengthening as the latest Government figures show new engineering orders are up 4.1% in the three months to April 2008 compared to the same period last year, according to giant group plc, the contractor services provider.

Figures just published by National Statistics show that the value of new engineering orders were £7.6 billion in the three months to April 2008, compared to £7.3 billion in the same period last year. The value of export orders was 17.7% higher, rising from £2.8 billion to £3.3 billion.

According to giant group, the growth in the value of engineering orders is likely to feed through to increased demand for engineering skills over the coming months. A recent survey by giant revealed that 63% of engineering contractors are expecting their pay to rise over the next year.

Matthew Brown, Managing Director, giant group, comments: “Fears that the economic slowdown would sap demand in the engineering sector have only partly materialised. While there has been a modest slackening of demand domestically, the UK engineering sector is proving extremely competitive at winning orders overseas.”

“The emerging economies in Asia and the Middle East are developing rapidly and this is feeding through to strong demand in the UK engineering sector. The depreciation of the pound relative to the Euro is also boosting demand in the Eurozone.”

According to giant, rising demand for engineering skills is unlikely to be absorbed by any slack in the job market, which could lead to higher pay demands.

Matthew Brown says: “Engineering contractors are confident of pay increases over the next 12 months. The UK is still suffering from a long-term underproduction of engineering skills, so employers will need to compete fiercely for the skills they need, which could push pay levels up.”

Note: Established in 1992, giant group specialises in providing services to recruitment agencies, temporary workers, freelancers and contractors. The range of services include agency back office solutions from giant precision – timesheet management, billing, payroll, contract management, pre-employment and background checking, BACS disaster recovery – and giant umbrella payroll services where giant is the professional employer organisation employing and payrolling the temporary workers and contractors.

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