Members’ Bulletin November 2025
The UK Employer Skills Survey 2024 is the UK’s largest survey of employers related to vacancies, skills shortages and investment in training and development. It has been carried out every two years since 2011.
This summary report benchmarks the Primary Sector & Utilities against the UK averages on a number of important indicators:
- Vacancies: For the first time, the number of vacancies reported by employers has fallen since the previous survey – from 1.5 million in 2022, to 938,800 in 2024
- The number of vacancies reported in the Primary Sector & Utilities also fell significantly – from 34,700 in 2022, to 25,600 in 2024
- Skills shortages: The proportion of vacancies in the Primary Sector & Utilities were classified as skills shortages (difficult to fill because of a lack of applicants with the required skills, qualifications or experience) reached an all-time high of 34% (compared to the UK average of 27%).
- Primary Sector & Utilities was the only sector to experience an increase in skills shortages compared to 2022
- Skills shortages are more likely to occur in Skilled Trades occupations, which are critical across the energy and utilities sector
- Skills gaps: The proportion of the current Primary Sector & Utilities workforce that are reported to be less than proficient in their current role reached a record high of 5.2% (higher than the UK average of 4.0% of the workforce)
- Training and development: In the Primary Sector & Utilities, just 48% of businesses funded or arranged training and development over the previous 12 months for their employees (11% lower than the UK average)
- The average number of training days in the Primary Sector & Utilities in 2024 reached a new low of 2.0 per employee in 2024
- Despite this reduction in the number of training days in the sector, investment levels increased by £0.3 billion – with the average spend per employee (in 2024 prices) of £1,850 (higher than the UK average of £1,700)
The report finishes with a range of recommendations to aimed at alleviated skills shortages, reducing skills gaps and ensuring that training is efficient and targeted effectively.
For further information about this research, please contact workforceplanning@euskills.co.uk
