80.000 new jobs to be filled by 2030 in engineering

Present in all sectors of activity, engineering is a major provider of jobs in France.

If these jobs must be directly used to carry out the major transitions (ecological and energy on the one hand, and digital on the other), they nevertheless risk not finding takers. Due to a lack of trained professionals, 20% of positions are likely to remain vacant. Syntec-Ingénierie proposes a concrete action plan and calls on public authorities to react urgently so as not to miss the turning points of decarbonization and reindustrialization.

For Michel Kahan, president of Syntec-Ingénierie: “Our world is facing profound upheavals, we all know that. What is less known is that engineering plays a key role in accelerating major transitions. The essence of our profession, the heart of our mission, is in fact to imagine concrete and operational solutions to decarbonize industry, eco-design buildings and infrastructures, carry out climate plans, deploy new energies, etc. The challenges are numerous and in January 2024 we adopted a roadmap to meet them. Of course, nothing will be done without talent, without gray matter and it is absolutely vital that we increase the number of trained professionals as quickly as possible. »

Engineering plans to create 80.000 new positions to meet the skills needs of major transitions

In France, engineering has 80.000 companies spread across the country and employing 315.000 people. These intellectual service companies complement the expertise of manufacturers and serve public contractors throughout the life cycle of products and projects (factories, stations, buildings, energy, etc.). The range of their mission is wide: feasibility studies, R&D, project management, energy optimization, regulatory and environmental compliance, maintenance, etc.

Despite the various crises (financial of 2008, debt crisis, health) and the recent slowdown in the construction market, engineering companies are showing great vitality: their workforce has experienced an average annual growth of 4%. By 2030, they plan to create 80.000 new jobs, ¼ of which in construction and the rest in industry. For what ? Because they are at the heart of major transitions and their skills are necessary to carry them out successfully.

In detail, the jobs created must be used to:

• Concerning the ecological and energy transition: quantifying the environmental footprint of projects and works, eco-design, improving energy efficiency, developing green hydrogen and small nuclear reactors, decarbonizing mobility, etc.
• Concerning the digital transition: using algorithm models and mobilizing AI, integrating industrialized design into the production of a work, improving cybersecurity, integrating data analysis to carry out different scenarios, mastering emerging software tools, etc.

A dynamic hampered by the shortage of talent and an incomplete training offer

This recruitment dynamic, necessary for the implementation of transitions, nevertheless runs the risk of being doubly hampered: by the lack of available talent on the one hand, and by the insufficiency of the initial and continuing training offer, on the other hand.

An insufficient pool of students

At present, engineering already suffers from a structural understaffing of around 2 to 4%. Around 15 professionals (all levels of study combined) are missing each year. The explosion of new skills needs linked to major transitions will therefore greatly accentuate this trend: by 000, there will be a shortage of 2030 talents in engineering. For professionals at Bac +20.000/+2 level, the shortage is already being felt, while it should become evident rather in 3 for profiles at Bac +2025. According to the OPIIEC study on the evolution of construction and development engineering professions, the shortage should cause a shortfall of 5 to 2,2 billion euros for engineering companies, nothing than in the construction sector (building and infrastructure).

An incomplete training offer

Furthermore, the France Ingénierie 2030 training diagnosis and the OPIIEC study highlight the necessary adaptation of the existing training offer, whether initial or continuing. This is particularly true for skills linked to industrial decarbonization, digital technology serving the environmental transition, nuclear power, hydrogen and even biomedicines. In detail, the skills linked to adaptations to climate change or even the use of artificial intelligence are thus insufficiently covered with regard to the base of diplomas and certifications registered in the RNCP. Training concerning regulatory developments, market developments, aeronautics, space, automobiles and even the agri-food industry are nevertheless considered satisfactory, even if their content must be adapted in view of the transition challenges.

Syntec-Ingénierie proposes an action plan and calls on public authorities to take action

Faced with this observation, the professional engineering federation is proposing a series of concrete actions, to be carried out in conjunction with the public authorities:

Working on the attractiveness of scientific and technical sectors globally

If engineering struggles so much to recruit the talents it needs, it is because it suffers from a profound lack of notoriety and attractiveness. Little known and poorly identified, careers in engineering do not spontaneously attract young people. And the same goes more broadly for scientific and technical sectors which are struggling to fill up, particularly since the recent reform of the Baccalaureate. In this regard, Syntec-Ingénierie, which has just launched a major communication campaign on engineering aimed at 13-18 year olds, proposes the following actions:

• Establish career presentation times within school and academic pathways, starting in middle school.
• Create and promote an immersion program for science course teachers in engineering companies in their territory.
• Create or promote a tool offering the school-business services of universities and schools a list of job advertisements, work-study programs and internships offered in their territory by engineering companies.

Expand recruitment pools

Engineering, which recruits around 2/3 engineers, is faced with a lack of diversity in the profiles available: only 30% of engineers graduating each year are women and few come from disadvantaged backgrounds[2]. Syntec-Ingénierie, which has set itself the mission in its 5-year roadmap to make engineering an inclusive and socially promoting profession, created and launched Parcours Ingé in September 2022, the first 100% in alternation towards engineering. It calls on public authorities to:

• Support and encourage the creation of new courses recognized at BAC+3 to meet the needs of the sector.
• Promote the possibility of professional integration in the sector via shorter courses for new audiences.

Promote continuing training for employees in the sector on the skills to be acquired

If the existing offer is already rich, it is nevertheless considered unsatisfactory by almost one company in 4. This is particularly true with regard to hydrogen, nuclear power and more broadly the skills linked to the ecological and energy transition. and the digital transition. Syntec-Ingénierie, which signed the “Climate and engineering professions” framework agreement with the State, the Syntec Federation and social partners in February 2023, therefore recommends the following actions:

• Develop collective actions with the OPCO Atlas on nuclear and green hydrogen to encourage the emergence of technical referents within the teams
• Implement the framework agreement signed with the State for the development of Climate and Engineering Professions skills.

Key figures

• 80.000 job creations anticipated in engineering by 2030
  • 20.000 in construction (building and infrastructure)
  • 60.000 in industry
• Around 20% of recruitments planned between now and 2030 could not be filled due to a lack of students leaving scientific fields
• Between 2,2 and 4,2 billion € of turnover in the construction and development engineering sector could not be achieved between 2023 and 2030 due to unfilled positions

[1] France Ingénierie 2030 training diagnosis, carried out as part of the France 2030 call for expressions of interest, June 2023. OPIIEC study on the evolution of construction and development engineering professions, January 2024

[2] Syntec-Ingénierie's proposals for the 2022 elections “Focus on innovation and technological excellence to design a sustainable future”

Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.