Skill-shortage vacancies in the UK, by occupation

This statistic shows the proportion of job vacancies that are due to a skill-shortage in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2015, by occupation. The occupation most affected by a skill shortage in 2015 was, at 43 percent of all vacancies, the skilled trades. There were a number of increases between these four years. The largest of which, at 17 percent, was in the machine operations category.

Proportion of job vacancies that are due to a skill-shortage in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2015, by occupation*

Characteristic	2011	2013	2015
Skilled trades	33%	39%	43%
Machine Ops	14%	25%	32%
Professionals	19%	30%	32%
Associate Ps.	18%	26%	22%
Caring, leisure et al	15%	27%	20%
Managers	20%	20%	17%
Elementary	10%	13%	16%
Sales	9%	13%	16%
Admin	10%	13%	11%

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Release date

May 2016

More information

Region

United Kingdom

Survey time period

2015

Number of respondents

91,210 respondents

Special properties

establishments with at least 2 staff

Method of interview

Telephone interview

Supplementary notes

Skill-shortage vacancies (SSVs) are defined by the source as: Vacancies which are proving difficult to fill due to the establishment not being able to find applicants with the appropriate skills, qualifications or experience.
During the survey, employers were first asked to give their reasons for not being able to fill vacancies spontaneously (i.e. without being presented with a list of possible reasons). Any employers not reporting skills-related issues were then prompted as to whether any of their hard-to-fill vacancies were proving hard-to-fill due to a lack of skills, experience or qualifications among applicants, and these responses combined to give an overall picture of the incidence and volume of skill-shortage vacancies in the market.

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