How has Covid-19 affected the engineering industry?
During these unprecedented times, we have seen a lot of people questioning which industries are going to crumble, and which are going to come out on top. We have seen that this pandemic has significantly affected a lot of industry sectors like material supply, retail, tourism, and hospitality.
But our question is, how hard has the engineering industry been hit? and will there be major changes in the foreseeable future?
Engineering, as a whole, has performed reasonably well to stay afloat during this crisis, but unfortunately, due to reduced demand, has taken a blow on the job front. Research from Engineers Australia shows that it’s estimated that, across all occupations (and compared to February 2020 before the effects of the COVID-19 response began) 1,132,322 jobs were lost to the end of April. By the end of May, it is estimated that 976,140 jobs were lost which means that, during May, 156,182 jobs had been reinstated.
As for engineers, it is estimated that up to 3.4% of qualified engineers working in the seven ‘core engineering’ industries have lost jobs. The core engineering industries are mining, manufacturing, utilities, construction, information & telecommunications, professional services, and public administration.
Impacts on Projects
At this stage, the impacts of Covid-19 hasn’t stopped the completion of many projects, especially for large engineering firms with federal contracts, but projects authorised by private enterprises may be feeling the heat, especially if the contracts are with companies who may be hardest hit by the instability of the markets.
As for the projects that are persisting on, they are still being impacted greatly, with the vast majority of them slowed down, causing delay and disruption. Reasons for this, could be due to the new health and safety precautions and another factor could be due to the domino effect felt from the material supply industry, where some have been severely affected by the pandemic.
With what is being said, what’s next for engineering? What can be done differently in these times?
Covid-19 has forced many companies to rethink various health and safety processes to ensure they are looking after their employees and keeping them safe during the COVID-19 crisis. Some important things Executives and Managers should be looking into are:
- Smarter operations: Implement new and social distant safer ways of working
- Modify processes to the new normal: Manage projects and contracts with agility
- Reinvent new business models to ensure less product supply risk
Are you or your business feeling the impacts of Covid-19? Check out Engineers Australia’s 9-point plan, this plan is designed to give you guidance and help you get back on your feet.
Stats: https://lmip.gov.au/default.aspx?LMIP/GainInsights/VacancyReport