European industrialists are sounding the alarm over a growing skills shortage on the continent that is threatening their competitiveness and has left manufacturing companies scrambling to find enough -engineers.
Chief executives of some of Europe’s biggest manufacturers said that problems around youth unemployment, demographics and the education system all mean engineers could be increasingly difficult to find. The shortage would force their companies to move more research and development facilities to countries with a greater supply of engineers, such as China or India, they said.
“By 2025, we might need 500,000 engineers,” said Olof Persson, chief executive, of Volvo Group, the world’s second-biggest truckmaker.