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Throughout the 1960s both government and industry expressed concern about a continuing shortage of engineers and scientists.[1] Over the last two years the concern seems to have been rather about a surplus than a shortage. Even so, this is seen by some to be a temporary phase.[2] They point to the relatively low density of engineers in the work force of British industry and take the view that the long-term problem remains that of a chronic shortage of engineers and scientists.
In this paper we concentrate on engineers and on the question of whether or not there was a persistent shortage of engineers in the 1960s. Our definition of an engineer includes people with degree level qualifications or the equivalent (e.g. H.N.D. or membership of a professional engineering institution) and those without such qualifications who are working in jobs normally held by people with engineering qualifications. We begin by examining the approach of the manpower planners whose forecasts were one of the reasons for the concern about the shortage of engineers. Their approach, however, is very different from that of most economists and so we devote some space to a review of economic concepts of manpower shortages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]