New research published today reveals that the nuclear sector workforce within the engineering construction industry (ECI) could increase by 29% in the next five years.
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, power generation, renewables, chemicals, carbon capture and storage, hydrogen as well as nuclear.
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 nuclear sector could grow to more than 46,000 by 2030, up from 35,900 in 2025. Steel erectors, electrical technicians and welders are set to be among the roles most in demand.
This growth reflects the volume of workers needed at Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C, but is also dependent on the extent to which the development of small modular reactors (SMRs) is ramped up and the timescale for building work starting on the new nuclear power plant earmarked at Wylfa in Anglesey, North Wales.
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 nuclear sector, having gathered data on more than 35,000 workers, covering distribution across regions, demographic trends, hiring challenges and business opportunities.
The report highlighted that the nuclear sector is now the largest engineering construction sector in terms of workforce, employing 39.2% of the total ECI workforce, up from 34.6% in 2021.
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 nuclear sector.
“The updates to the LFT reinforce the scale of the challenges facing industry that were outlined in our Workforce Census Report, which revealed that 91% of ECI employers in the nuclear sector are experiencing challenges hiring workers.
“It also highlighted that employers in the sector estimate a 10% increase in headcount by 2027, although our latest LFT forecast puts this figure at 29% by 2030.
“We recognise that addressing skills shortages in the nuclear sector requires a collaborative, multi-agency approach that includes employers, governments, training providers and the ECITB.
“So, we’re calling on all of the sector to work together to help increase the pool of people joining the industry, while continuing to train and upskill existing workers.
“By investing in the workforce, the industry has a fighting chance of closing the skills gap and ensuring the sector has the skilled workforce it needs both for now and the future.”
Find out more about the ECITB Labour Forecasting Tool at:
www.ecitb.org.uk/research/labour-forecasting-tool/
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