I agree absolutely with both 10W and Blacksheep, the question is what do we do about it?
I try hard as a company Chief Engineer to only employ properly qualified people, and keep them properly trained, up to date, and as well rewarded as I can (which isn't very). But the cards are stacked against me - what do you do if you advertise for a CEng job and none apply?, you get a mix of self-taught and just graduated and have to get somebody to do the work. (Answer, employ the best of the bunch on probation and make becoming properly qualified both a condition and right of employment.)
I think the only answer is for the whole Engineering profession to unite and agree ground rules. Last year it became illegal to call yourself an osteopath in the UK without all the proper qualifications, why the hell is this not yet the case with Engineering? As a profession we have existed for several centuries without solving this, which is not very impressive.
Who to blame? I'd start with the EngC, who really should be doing something about this but isn't. Every year I see the EngC council elections, and I've yet to see a candidate whose policy is to make Eng.Tech / CEng / IEng a license to practice - as it is in France or Germany!
G