Workers with ‘priority skills’ to be most in demand

Those workers who have the skills needed for priority occupations will be the ones most in demand in the future, according to a new piece of research that has been published.

This research comes from Skills England and it looks at the needs of UK employers in the future. The study identifies a total of 10 priority occupations where demand will be strongest. They are: advanced manufacturing, defence, financial services, life sciences, business and professional services, adult social care, renewable energy, house building, tech and digital and creative sectors. All of these are listed in the Industrial Strategy laid out by the government.

The study anticipates that there will be an increase of 15% in the demand for workers with those skills between now and the end of the decade. That is 1.6 times higher than for other sectors.

When it comes to which of the 10 priority occupations that will experience the highest demand, Skills England is expecting it to be engineering, house building, adult social care and tech.

Employers in those sectors will want to make sure they get the best possible people. Effective recruitment is one of the factors that makes HR so important, whether it is internal or outsourced HR services in Hertfordshire or other areas.

According to Personnel Today, Phil Smith from Skills England wrote that:

“We also have to recognise that there is huge uncertainty at the moment, in how the economy may evolve, not least from the revolution in AI technology.”

Smith added that this made it more important for companies to plan ahead.