Industries prioritised by the Westminster government will need hundreds of thousands more workers by the end of the decade, with employers likely to look to universities when recruiting them, according to new analysis.
One of the first publications from Skills England, the new quango that started operating in April, is a of the skill needs associated with 10 key sectors earmarked by ministers in the industrial strategy or in Labour’s “Plan for Change”.
It finds that 14.8 million people are estimated to work in these sectors currently, just under half (45 per cent) of the total UK workforce in 2024; and that across these sectors, 5.9 million people work in one of 148 occupations identified as priorities by Skills England, representing 18 per cent of the workforce.
Skills England predicts that by 2030 employment in the priority occupations (excluding health) is likely to grow by 900,000, or 15 per cent, with total headcount in these industries predicted to expand by 1.7 million, or 11 per cent. Both metrics are significantly ahead of the 9 per cent growth predicted in other occupations, which would add 800,000 additional jobs.
Of the priority occupations, two-thirds expect workers to have a qualification at level 4 or above, with the majority of these?wanting?qualifications at level 6 – equivalent to a bachelor’s degree – or above.
Looking at the current state of play, the agency estimates that 285,000 recent education leavers enter priority occupations from England’s skills system every year, with 51 per cent of these – 147,000 – coming from higher education. A further 17 per cent come from further education, while 31 per cent have an apprenticeship.
Another way of looking at this is by skill level: 58 per cent of entrants – 165,000 – hold qualifications equivalent to a bachelor’s degree or higher. A further 7 per cent have qualifications at levels 4 or 5.
Overall, Skills England finds that 53 per cent of higher education leavers go into priority occupations, compared with 33 per cent in further education. Health and architecture?graduates have the highest employment rates in priority occupations, including 97 per cent of nursing and midwifery graduates and 96 per cent of medicine and dentistry graduates – followed by?graduates in computing, engineering, economics and physics.
The study also looks at whether people in priority occupations had undertaken training that is directly relevant to that occupation. Overall, 79 per cent had done, with the rate slightly higher, at 81 per cent, for those who had studied for a degree or an apprenticeship.
What Skills England does not do is account for the supply of workers into priority occupations from other routes, such as employer-funded training or migration. And it does not consider how many workers leave priority occupations each year, and therefore how big the “skills gap” is.
Writing in the report’s foreword, Phil Smith, chair of Skills England, says that the analysis highlights the “scale of demand” for skills in future.
“Over a quarter of a million people enter priority occupations from the skills system each year,” he writes. “That’s a huge amount of training that needs to be targeted and high quality if we are going to support learners, businesses, and the economy to thrive and grow.”
The 10 sectors considered by Skills England include eight prioritised by the industrial strategy: advanced manufacturing, clean energy industries, creative industries, defence, digital and technologies, financial services, life sciences and professional and business services. It adds two from the Plan for Change: housebuilding and health and adult social care.
It predicts that the largest numbers of roles will be generated by the creative industries and by the digital and technologies sectors, both of which have strong demand for skills at level 4 or above. Only in housebuilding, adult social care and clean energy industries are a significant proportion of skill needs below this level.
A list of the 20 specific occupations across priority sectors that are expected to display the biggest growth to 2030 is topped by care workers and then programming and IT roles, but the rest of the list is more diverse, including graphic and multimedia designers, arts officers, producers and directors, and authors, writers and translators.
Commenting on the research, the National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB) said it welcomed the “data-driven, employer-led approach” trialled by Skills England.
“罢丑别 growing mismatch between the skills employers need and the skills available in the workforce is already holding back business performance and innovation – and risks derailing the UK’s growth ambitions,” said Rosalind Gill, NCUB’s director of policy.
“Universities are ready to bridge this gap. Two-thirds of future jobs will require advanced skills, and with the right investment and policy backing, universities can rapidly scale up agile, mid-level qualifications tailored to adult learners.
“罢丑别 Lifelong Learning Entitlement offers a powerful tool to make this possible – expanding access, boosting productivity, and strengthening our global competitiveness. But this must be underpinned by a sustainable funding model for universities and a culture of effective, long-term partnerships with employers.”
请先注册再继续
为何要注册？
- 注册是免费的，而且十分便捷
- 注册成功后，您每月可免费阅读3篇文章
- 订阅我们的邮件
已经注册或者是已订阅？