Member Article

Subsea industry “could create 10,000 jobs“

The UK subsea industry could create up to 10,000 new jobs over the next year, according to figures from Subsea UK.

The industry body have found that a fifth of its members would need more than 2000 people to fill roles in the growing oil and gas sector. 43 members already have 800 current vacancies to fill.

Subsea UK arrived at the total figure following that assumption that if 20% of members need 2000 new employees, this could mean that there could be up to 10,000 jobs created across the whole sector.

Subsea UK’s chief executive Neil Gordon said: “With the UK economy still fairly fragile, it is fantastic that our industry, which is out-performing other sectors and helping lead the country’s economic recovery, is creating so many new jobs.

“The challenge for us is finding suitably qualified people to meet immediate demand and attracting new people into the industry to fulfil future demand.”

Despite this demand, half of all respondents found it “very difficult” to recruit suitably qualified people, and a further 14% saying it was almost impossible to find the right calibre of employee.

According to Subsea UK, the British subsea industry generates annual revenues of £6 billion, supporting around 50,000 jobs. It is expected to grow by by up to 40% over the next two years.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .