IET: ‘Engineers most trusted after nurses’

87% of people trust engineers to tell them the truth, after nurses an 89% and before doctors at 85%, according to the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET). “Engineers are one of only three professions whose trust score has improved since 2021,” it said. “Out of a list of 30 different professions, engineers are the second most trusted in Great Britain, up from sixth place, with 84%, in 2021.

Trust in engineers is equal across genders, with 1% difference between men and women – 16.5% of engineers and technicians identify as women, added the IET. Engineers also scored 89% in 2020.

Numbers are from the Ipsos Veracity Index, with which the IET worked.

Teachers and museum curators were also right up there, while politicians (12%), advertising executives (14%), government ministers (16%), estate agents (28%) and journalists (29%) languished at the bottom
– Electronics Weekly would like to know where that leaves us earnest (we claim) souls who write about engineering for a living….

This year’s Ipsos Veracity Index survey was carried out by telephone on two waves of British adults aged 16+: 1,005 people between 19 and 26 October 2022, then 1,004 people between 26 October and 1 November.

“Data are weighted to match the profile of the population. All polls are subject to a wide range of potential sources of error,” said the IET.

Survey details can be found here