There is an under-representation of women in most industries within the Cogent sector, 27% compared to 46% in the UK workforce. This representation is even lower in the oil and gas industry at 15% and 18% in the nuclear industry.

Under-representation of women in the sector is thought to be the result of a combination of factors.  Historically, the industries have been dominated by male workforce (as much of their recruitment was from declining heavy industries).  Employment in the sector is heavily focussed upon science, engineering and technical job roles which have also historically been dominated by males.  Study of subjects that can lead into such occupations has a gender bias with a lower proportion of females studying related subjects at each advancing level of study.  In addition to this, a low proportion of part-time jobs and the expectation that work in the sector is shift-based potentially impacts upon the options for female returners to work. 

Over the next ten years, it is predicted that the number of women working in the sector will increase slightly from 27.9% to 29.4% in 2014, of this 1% will be the part-time share of women.

The proportion of female graduates interested in the sector relevant subjects has increased over the last 10 years. For specific subjects this varies considerably. For instance, in chemistry and geology the proportion of female graduates has increased by 10 % for each subject between 1995-2005. In mechanical engineering, the proportion of women has remained unchanged over the last 10 years and is the lowest at around 8%.

In the sector industries the following statistics are available:

• chemical – 20%  of the workforce are female; 2.3% are in process operations; and 20% in professional roles
• petroleum – 50% of forecourt cashiers and mangers are female; and 7% of forecourt maintenance employees are female
• polymer – 6.9% are female in sign making; and 21.2% are female in rubber processing and plastics
• oil and gas – 18% employed in all companies are female

Source: Cogent Sector Skill Needs Assessment 2006, Working Futures 2006 and Cogent 2003 – industry appendices

For more information on the gender profile of the sector in the future see:

Source: Cogent Sector Skill Needs Assessment 2006, table 3.3b. Data compiled from Annual Business Inquiry 2003, Labour Force Survey (q4, 2003 – q3, 2004) and Nuclear Employer Survey.
Notes:
* data suppressed due to a low sample size
** data are not available

The representation of people from ethnic minority groups differs greatly across employment in the industries. Across the Cogent sector, approximately 6% of the workforce are non-white compared to 7% in the UK workforce. It is difficult to get an accurate picture of the workforce by ethnicity as data are unavailable therefore assumptions are made based upon the reported figures for workforce reported as white.

In the sector industries the following statistics are available:

• chemical – 6% employees are non-white
• nuclear - 4% of employees are non-white
• oil and gas - 4% of employees are non-white
• petroleum – 16.4% of forecourt employees are non-white; 2% of refining and manufacture workforce are non-white
• polymer – 0.4% employer in sign making are non-white, across the remainder of the industry 4% are non-white

Source: Cogent Sector Skill Needs Assessment 2006

Overall, the Cogent sector has an ageing demographic profile and needs to attract younger people into the workforce to replace those retiring and leaving the sector.

In the chemical industry, there is an ageing workforce with fewer young people opting for science careers in general. Less than 4% of process operators are under 25 years, while 23% are over 50 years.

In the nuclear industry, a high level of replacement demand is expected in the next 15 years as large numbers will be retiring. Process operators have an ageing workforce with 14% aged over 55 years, although demand for this group will be declining as the industry moves into decommissioning this is outstripped by replacement demand.

There is an ageing workforce in the oil and gas industry with less than 6% of the workforce aged 25 years or under, 31% are 36-45 years and 29% are 46-55 years. However, the introduction of modern apprentices is expected to have an impact on the age profile of production and maintenance technicians.

The age profile of the petroleum industry by job is very varied and there are some concerns with regard to an ageing workforce. 43% of team leaders and supervisors in the sector are aged 45 years and over, plus 48% of drivers are aged 45 years and over. Much lower proportions of people employed in the industry are aged under 25 years: only 2% of team leaders and supervisors; 6% of control room operators; and 6% of routers and schedulers.

In the polymers industry there are a large number of employees aged 55 years plus so there is an urgent need for young recruits. The age profile across different parts of the industry is similar with the exception of rubber processing:

• sign making – 48% are aged 25-39 years; 4% aged 16-19 years
• rubber processing – 80% are 25-54 years; 1% aged 16-19 years
• plastics – 42% are aged 25-39 years; 5% aged 16-19 years

Source: Cogent Sector Skill Needs Assessment 2006 and Cogent 2003 – industry appendices

For more data on the age profile of the sector and its industries, and the sector in Scotland see:

No data are available on numbers employed with a disability.