The ECI plays a crucial role in the UK meeting its net zero ambitions, spanning sectors that focus on the construction, maintenance and decommissioning of heavy industry, including oil and gas, nuclear, power generation, renewables, chemicals, carbon capture and storage, hydrogen and water treatment.
The Engineering Construction Industry Training Board’s (ECITB) Labour Forecasting Tool (LFT) provides insights into workforce numbers across regions and sectors, predicting trends and potential future demand for workers in the industry.
The tool, which was first launched in November 2023, has been updated using findings from the ECITB 2024 Workforce Census and publicly stated timescales on 3,000 active and future ECI projects across Great Britain.
The ECITB’s latest forecast states that the size of the ECI workforce in the North West could grow by 260 by 2030, with project engineers, scaffolders and mechanical engineers among the roles most in demand.
The overall picture of future labour needs in Britain, however, forecasts that the size of the ECI workforce could increase by 19% in the same timeframe, which highlights the continued need for regional hubs that can train up a highly mobile, competent workforce.
The tool previously stated that demand across industry would peak in 2028, but this has now shifted to 2030 due to delays in some projects coinciding with other planned activity, as well as a potential wave of retirements in key roles.
The revised predictions were possible thanks to a record response rate from industry employers for the latest iteration of the ECITB Workforce Census.
The ECITB Workforce Census 2024 offered a comprehensive overview of the ECI workforce in the North West, having gathered data on more than 26,000 workers in the region, covering distribution across sectors, demographic trends, hiring challenges and business opportunities.
ECITB Chief Executive Andrew Hockey said: “A key objective of the Foundations pillar of our Leading Industry Learning strategy is to produce impactful labour market intelligence to enable data-driven decision-making.
“The significant Census response rate enabled the ECITB to provide more precise, up-to-date data for the benefit of industry. It allows us to improve the LFT to help make better predictions on future workforce trends and labour demands in the North West.
“Our Workforce Census Report revealed that 77% of ECI employers in the North West are experiencing challenges hiring workers.
“It also highlighted that employers in the region estimate an 8% increase in headcount by 2027, although our latest LFT forecast puts this figure at 2% by 2030.”
Find out more about the ECITB Labour Forecasting Tool at: