Civil Engineering: Industry Analysis - Facts, Forces, Projections

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the civil and structural engineering industry, examining its current state, historical context, and future projections. It begins by outlining the author's academic background and current internship experience in the civil electrical field, setting the stage for an exploration of the industry's evolution. The report delves into the factors influencing the profession, such as economics, technology, and gender equality, highlighting shifts in employment opportunities and the impact of technological advancements like AutoCAD. It discusses the changing landscape of engineering education, including the rise of women in the field and the importance of practical experience. Furthermore, the report identifies key forces driving change, including technology, globalization, and economic factors, and projects future trends, such as the increasing role of technology and the growing participation of women in engineering. The report concludes by emphasizing the need for adaptability and sustainable practices to ensure the sector's continued growth and effectiveness. The report draws upon various sources, including industry reports and academic studies, to support its findings.

Running Head: Facts, Forces and Projections in Civil and Structural Engineering
1
Facts, Forces and Projections in Civil and Structural Engineering
My Industry Sector & facts about its recent past
The area of study that I am currently undertaking at the University of Technology is Bachelor
of Engineering (Civil and Structural), Diploma in Professional Engineering Practice. I am
currently going through an internship program in the Civil Electrical field, working with
underground and overhead cabling.
Engineering has grown over the past few decades. It is a fast-developing area of work that is
always in demand due to changing time and surroundings. Factors that affect this profession
are economics, environment, technology and equality.
In the recent past, engineering was one of the most demanding fields in the industry.
Graduates have more opportunities and early start in their career than they are today. A
number of different projects were always on the lookout for young new engineers and that
also contributes to a faster development in career. Both senior government engineering and
private sector were also in high demand. Over the past decade, the nature of engineering has
changed as there are more investment and infrastructure. This contributes to the growth
development of the engineering industry shown in figure 1 as new infrastructures are being
built all around the world (Employment outlook: Engineering). It was relatively common and
easy to obtain vacation work before the 1990s. University students were encouraged to gain
practical experiences in civil engineering. After that time period, students were ‘lacking these
practical skills’ (Martin P., 2019) due to workplaces would rather hire graduated students
rather than those who are still studying.
Engineers used to heavily rely on trial and error in developing prototypes and models in the
past, however, technology has a large impact on changing these aspects. Civil engineers have
practiced craftsmanship over the past by manual drawing designs with drawing instruments
and precision. With the ease of technology today, engineers are using platforms such as
AutoCAD to draw plans and designs.
Another significant change of engineering in the past decade is the recruitment of more
women in engineering.

Facts, Forces and Projections in Civil and Structural Engineering 2
With only 15% of women participating in engineering courses and less than 6% in
engineering workforce in the year 2000, it was time for a change (Pam R. and Mary A.,
2002). Engineers Australia has designated the year 2007 to the ‘Year of Women in
Engineering’
Change of quality
With the recent number of graduate engineers rising rapidly and not enough capacity to be
absorbed by the industry, a number of institutions offer courses that are not accredited
resulting into low quality in terms of skills acquired. In one of the studies conducted to
determine the effectiveness of Industrial Based learning, Cleophas et at. (2018) postulates
that undergraduate attachment program is part of industrial learning that is essential for
meeting the shortcomings of engineering education system, since the students get exposed to
practical situations and acts as a proactive measure of the insufficient skills possessed by the
graduates.
More women in engineering
There has been a trend where the number of women not only in civil engineering profession,
but the sciences is always significantly lower than that of their male counterparts. However
recently, the number has been rising and one of the studies carried out by Jean Bossart and
Neelam B. (2018) found that women are likely to take up a career that they perceive to be of
societal benefit. They further explain that the role of civil and structural engineering provides
numerous ways in which the society directly benefits from it, through construction of
sustainable projects and as a result more women have a stable career with the profession.
Facts about the current state of my Industry Sector
The engineering labour force has grown by 64.5% between 2006 and 2016 (Engineers
Australia 2019) which shows a large progress in skilled workers growth. Civil engineering
has always been in high demand because of its nature in development of infrastructure,
transportation and utilities. The fluidity of civil engineering allowing it to cover wider scope
of work in the industry guarantees the growth of this sector. Civil Engineering has now been
divided into subcategories such as construction, structural, water and sanitary, transport,
geotechnical and ocean engineering.

Facts, Forces and Projections in Civil and Structural Engineering 3
These varieties allow young engineers to pick and choose their field more specifically. It is
estimated by The Australian Workplace Productivity Agency (AWPA) that there will be ‘up
to thousands’ of jobs in Australia for ‘civil engineering such as road and rail, electricity,
water and telecommunications infrastructure’ (Professional Engineers YEAR).
In terms of gender role in civil engineering, female workers only make up 12% in this
industry which is well below the average of 48% in other industries (Australian Government
2016). Hence, it shows that engineering still has a long way to go in order to recruit more
female workers. Universities are now supporting female engineering students more by
creating programs such as Lucy Mentoring Program or lower entry ATAR at University of
Technology Sydney. These programs could potentially attract more young women to study
engineering and increase the number of women in the industry.
The supply and demand of civil engineering has always been almost in balance; however, the
demand has consistently slowed down by 2.6% per year. The supply of engineers from
domestic sources has been falling since 2013 due to decrease in domestic commencements at
universities. On the other hand, oversea students’ rate has had a strong steady growth every
year.
Forces driving changes in my Industry Sector
In my point of view, technology plays the biggest part in the engineering industry. This is
because most design drawings are now being done on computers using software such
as AutoCAD, Civil 3D, Solid Works and other robust software. This provides more accurate
data and more up to date. Technology will continue to grow and continue to replace the
labour force. Data collection will allow the production of models and ‘helping uncover new
patterns and relationships’ for social systems (Anna Davies et al 2020). This force also leads
to a change in the quality of the product to be higher and well developed.
Many industries are now pushing towards becoming international. Globalization means that
there are more products, activities and knowledge being exchanged, hence, further
development in infrastructure all around the globe. Many multinational companies utilize
their subsidiaries for sales and technical support. This means that the chance of a company
being more successful can also rely on the connectivity internationally.

Facts, Forces and Projections in Civil and Structural Engineering 4
As mentioned above, many universities and workplaces are promoting more women in
engineering. This means more programs such as Lucy Mentoring, Women in Engineering and
Information Technology Association and many more. This is a force that drives the number
of women in engineering to increase the past decade.
Economic capability of Australia determines the type and scope of projects being undertaken
for instance the construction of roads, dams and other projects in civil and structural
engineering. The benefits of the project to be undertaken should exceed the cost, a conclusion
only made after carrying out the cost -Benefit analysis of a project. Essentially speaking,
economy is the real driving force behind the engineering industry because without funds then
projects are at standstill since the government will not have adequate capital to launch
projects. A weak economy also has low circulation of money and the private sector would be
equally affected to carry out projects in construction activities. The design concept in any
engineering project depends heavily on the economic parameters and the budget set for the
project (Sullivan, 2016).
One of the fundamental issues that needs to be considered as a driving force in engineering is
Politics of a country. Most political leaders have the capability of pooling resources and
influence that would affect the type and location of an engineering infrastructure (Williams
Ebhota, 2016). The politics have a higher bearing factor on when projects in the public sector
are to be undertaken for instance, during election periods there are high political tensions
resulting into a slowdown of projects in the Engineering industry. International investors
would therefore take into great considerations the political stability of a nation before they
invest in construction projects even partnering with the local governments. According to
Petar K. and Filip K. (2017), the relevance of political stability and foreign direct investment
cannot be underestimated since economic growth in the engineering industry directly depends
on foreign direct investment.
It is in the light of the above discussed factors that this subsection draws conclusion to the
fundamental driving forces in the engineering sector that for any development in the
engineering sector, there is need for economic and political stability as well as technological
advancements.

Facts, Forces and Projections in Civil and Structural Engineering 5
Projection of the future of my Industry Sector
The changes for the past decades allow the engineering industry to step forward into the
future strongly. It is predicted that in the near future, there will be many more women in
engineering because of what the industry promotes. Despite the setbacks facing the industry,
there is a projected market growth in terms of size and opportunities by the year 2025, at least
according to Global Civil Engineering Market Report (2019). It also forecasts the expansion
to be to the tune of between USD 1.80 trillion by 2025 following the deliberate steps taken
globally to promote sustainable development in construction and build environment.
Just like any other sector, the civil and structural industry has had challenges and a lot of
research has been done to determine the best possible way of resolving them, especially in
improving human resource through training and integrating it with sustainable development.
As a result, a sufficient data set has been obtained to predict with a greater degree of
certainty, the future of the workforce and technological development in the sector. The future
of engineering sector thus depends on the current factors, nature of the workforce and
adaptability towards the changing sectoral dynamics, a concept that is well brought out in the
Future Jobs Report (2018). The report also asserts that the rapid technological changes and
implementation of global policies will play a major role on how the civil engineering sector
operates, since the release of waste and ecological disruptions affect the natural environment
that is being protected by a number of world organizations. It therefore calls for modest
adaptability techniques and conformity to the policies in order to have a smooth transition
moving into the future.
Conclusion
A number of issues have been discussed to highlight the factors, forces and projections in the
field of civil and structural engineering both at the global and local levels. Civil engineering
being one of the oldest engineering disciplines has undergone new developments, resulting
into a number of technological developments to improve efficiency and enable quality work.
This requires skilled human resource through training and exposure of engineering students
to practical activities in the field. It is also brought out clearly that a number of factors are
elemental in driving this sector; economic, political and social. In addition to this, the place of

Facts, Forces and Projections in Civil and Structural Engineering 6
women in engineering career is also discussed and recent studies that suggest that the number
of women is steadily increasing as time goes by.
Finally, the future projection of the profession is given a glance and the question to be
addressed is that: What is being done to ensure that there is smooth transition in order to
conform to many of the legislative policies moving forward? This will bring on board
adaptability mechanisms to enable the sector have a higher capacity of absorbing the
graduates and still remain effective while enabling them to undergo institution-based training
at the same time.

Facts, Forces and Projections in Civil and Structural Engineering 7
References
Anon., 2019. Women in Engineering and IT. [Online]
Available at: https://www.uts.edu.au/about/faculty-engineering-and-information-
technology/women-engineering-and-it
Cleophas Ondieki, Gerald N. Kimani, Edward K. Tanui, 2018. Industry Based Learning
Improves Skills and Training of Undergraduate Engineering Programmes in Kenya: Case
Study of the University Of Nairobi. International Journal of Education and Multidisciplinary
Studies, July, 11(3), pp. 63-74.
COMTEXT, 2019. Civil Engineering Market Regional Trend & Growth Projections By
2019-2025, U.S.: s.n.
Ebhota, W., 2016. Engineering Research And Development (R&D) Infrastructure For
Developing Economy. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC & TECHNOLOGY
RESEARCH, April, 3(4), pp. 186-190.
Jean Bossart and Neelam Bharti, 2017. Women in Engineering: Insight into why some
Engineering Departments have more success in recruiting and graduating women. American
Journal of Engineering Education, December, 8(2), pp. 128-140.
Petar Kurecic and Filip Kokotovic , 2017. The Relevance of Political Stability on FDI: A
VAR Analysis and ARDL Models for Selected Small, Developed, and Instability Threatened
Economies. Economics, 22 June.pp. 1-21.
SCHWA, K., 2018. The Future of Jobs Report, Geneva: World Economic Forum.
Sullivan, W. G., 2016. A New Paradigm for Engineering Economy. Manufacturing Research
and Technology, Volume 14, pp. 3-18.