Look into a crystal ball…

Sunday, April 3, 2016

…or use the Working Futures 2014-24 report just launched by the UK Commission on Employment and Skills (UCES) to assess the future shape of the UK labour market.

UCES forecast that the overall number of jobs in the UK will rise by around 1.8 million between 2014 and 2024, and that the majority of these additional jobs will be taken by women.

So which sectors are due to grow?

  • private services are set to grow, and be the main engine for employment growth, with business and other service activities such as professional services and information technology seeing the strongest rates of jobs growth;
  • manufacturing is expected to increase productivity, increase skills needs, but reduce in terms of overall numbers of jobs;
  • construction is forecast to rebound producing strong employment and output growth;
  • health & social care is to see large numbers of additional jobs; and
  • any growth in education and public administration is expected to be muted, at least in the early years of the period.
As for qualifications:
  • projections show a continued shift towards more higher level qualifications, with an estimated 54% of jobs at level 4 or above – that’s foundation degree level or higher by 2024.
  • Average qualification levels are also due to rise within all occupations.

So with increasing numbers of jobs, many at higher skills levels, it is looking likely that the graduate job market will continue to grow over the coming years.

If you want to read the detail go to: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-labour-market-projections-2014-to-2024