Female engineers are earning up to 9.5% higher salaries than their male counterparts and are twice as likely to be called for interview, despite representing just under 10% of applications for engineering roles.
The survey findings are contained in new research by specialist engineering recruitment firm Sonas Technical which is being released to mark International Women’s Day.
The company said it shows a major gender rebalancing of salaries for the sector as females are now more in demand by Irish and multinational engineering firms.
The demand for female engineers comes from companies who require skills such as diversity of thought and approach within their organisation which in turn allows for more collaboration and connection.
Also, engineering firms want to match the gender balance of their clients as it enables them to build better customer relations and fulfil their diversity obligations.
“Its great to see that gender pay differences is rapidly rebalancing but the number of females applying for engineering roles is disproportionally way lower than their male counterparts,” said Sonas Technical’s Director of Talent Solutions Tanya Rampaul.
“We urgently need a greater emphasis now on STEM subjects at primary school level to encourage a lot more girls to develop a love for these important courses.”
The survey was of a random sample of 1,000 applications for engineering roles made in the first three months of this year.
It shows that the average female salary for a graduate engineer is €35,000 compared to €32,000 for males.
The average female salary for a project engineer with more than five years experience is €65,000 compared to €60,000 for males.
