This is our weekly One Minute Monday - our guide to a single fact or stat on employment and skills that you can take in in sixty seconds or less. Our One Minute Monday posts are drawn from our own research and beyond, so if a statistic has caught your eye in the last week let us know.
The density of skill shortage vacancies (SSVs) increased across all occupations between 2011 and 2013. The chart below, taken from the 2013 UK Employer Skills Survey, shows SSVs and their densities by occupation in 2011 and 2013.
(The density of skill shortage vacancies is the proportion of vacancies that employers have found hard to fill due to prospective employees’ lack of skills or experience.)
As in the 2011 survey, the occupational group with the highest SSV density was in the ‘Skilled trades’, which includes jobs such as vehicle engineers and electricians.
The density of such vacancies increased in all occupations from 2011 apart from in managerial-level occupations, which remained constant at 20%. The greatest increase was in ‘Caring, leisure and other services’, where SSV density increased from 15% to 27%. The occupational group with the highest overall number of SSVs is ‘Professionals’, which has also seen an increase in SSV density of 11 percentage points.
SSVs are one example of a labour market mismatch; skills supplied by the market are not in line with demand. Between 2011 and 2013 the improving UK economy led to an increase in recruitment activity, which will explain part of the increase in mismatches seen below.
To see whether this trend has continued and SSV density has continued to increase since 2013, you will have to wait for the results of the UK Employer Skills Survey 2015, published in January.
Chart taken from UKCES UK Employer Skills Survey 2013.
More on labour market mismatches:
- Skills shortage vacancies: UKCES explains
- Skills gaps: UKCES explains
- Are things finally getting better?
More One Minute Monday:
- One Minute Monday - firm size in the digital and creative sectors
- One Minute Monday - why do some employers not recruit young people?
- One Minute Monday - employers are taking action on skills gaps
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