Higher costs, lower employment expected for fraught engineering services sector

The rising costs of labour and materials stand out as major concerns from the latest survey of UK electrotechnical and engineering services firms. This is expected to have a negative impact on profits and employment.
 
Significant uncertainty has led to a quarter of businesses (24 per cent) employing fewer apprentices in Q2. A third (34 per cent) of respondents added that they would need less agency and sub-contracted labour this quarter.