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In the UK in 2024, 48% of vacancies in skilled-trades occupations were skill-shortage vacancies, compared with 27% of vacancies across all occupations. These were vacancies employers said were hard to fill because applicants lacked the required skills, qualifications or experience—not the share of skilled-trades jobs left vacant. The figures show a recruitment challenge; they do not prove that awareness campaigns alone can solve it.
What the vacancy figures do—and do not—measure
The UK Employer Skills Survey’s 2024 results put skilled trades well above the all-occupation rate for skill-shortage vacancies. A skill-shortage vacancy is a hard-to-fill opening where employers attribute the difficulty to applicants lacking skills, qualifications or experience. It is not a measure of every unfilled job, nor does it establish why people did not apply. The Employer Skills Survey reports the occupational and UK-wide figures.
| Measure | UK result | What it describes |
|---|---|---|
| Skilled-trades skill-shortage vacancies, 2024 | 48% of vacancies in the occupational group | Vacancies employers said were hard to fill because applicants lacked skills, qualifications or experience. |
| All-occupation skill-shortage vacancies, 2024 | 27% of vacancies | The corresponding share across occupations. |
These are shares of vacancies, not shares of workers or jobs. The distinction matters: a high share signals that skills-related recruitment difficulty is common among the vacancies in that group, but it does not reveal whether visibility, pay, location, conditions, training capacity or another factor is responsible.
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Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Vacancies are different from skills gaps among current employees
A vacancy is an opening an employer has not filled. A skills gap is a different measure: an existing employee whom the employer judges not fully proficient in their role. In 2024, 1.26 million UK employees had an employer-assessed skills gap, equal to 4.0% of employees. The comparable 2022 figures were 1.72 million and 5.7%, respectively. These figures describe proficiency among people already employed, not employers’ difficulty recruiting for vacancies. The Department for Education’s Employer Skills Survey statistics report the skills-gap measure.
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What employers say makes recruitment difficult
In the Department for Work and Pensions’ 2024 survey of 8,006 employers with at least two employees, employers who had recruited or tried to recruit most often cited too few applicants with the required skills (58%). Too few applicants with the required attitude or motivation was cited by 45%, while 38% cited too few people interested in that kind of job. These are all-sector responses, not results specifically for skilled trades. They indicate that perceived interest is one reported barrier, alongside skills and other applicant requirements; they do not show that lack of awareness caused those barriers.
That distinction is important for employers and workforce planners. A communications problem may make a suitable route or occupation hard to discover, but it cannot by itself supply qualified applicants, create training places or make a vacancy attractive and accessible.
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What “visibility” can mean in practice
Visibility is not just seeing a trade mentioned in a campaign. For someone considering a career, it can mean being able to find accurate, concrete information at each decision point:
- Career visibility: understanding what trades exist, what the work involves and what the working conditions are like.
- Route visibility: finding out how to enter, including training, apprenticeship or hiring options and their requirements.
- Progression visibility: seeing what can follow an entry-level role, and what skills or qualifications progression requires.
These forms of visibility are useful only when they connect to real opportunities. Skills England’s 2026 report describes skills-needs assessments as a way to identify priority jobs and common pathways into them. That supports linking career information to concrete routes; it is not evidence that publicity alone reduces shortages. Skills England publishes its England-focused skills work.
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Awareness of apprenticeships is not the same as access or use
The DWP’s 2024 employer survey found that 92% of employers had heard of apprenticeships. Among employers who had heard of them, 25% had recruited through them. The first figure measures awareness; the second measures reported recruitment through the route among that aware-employer group. Neither figure establishes apprenticeship quality, completion, effectiveness or whether a prospective applicant can find an available place.
For visibility efforts to lead somewhere, applicants need clear, locally relevant details: eligibility, entry requirements, the training provider or employer, how to apply, expected duration and what happens after completion. Employers and educators also need a workable route to offer—not only information about a route in principle.
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Progression needs to be visible and credible
Only 36% of employers in the DWP’s 2024 survey said their organisation had a transparent progression pathway. The survey asked whether entry-level work was a stepping stone to higher-paid work. This is an employer-reported measure, not proof that workers experience a clear or achievable path in practice.
For a prospective worker, progression information is most useful when it identifies the roles or responsibilities that may follow entry, the skills or qualifications needed, and how advancement is supported. If an employer cannot explain those steps, advertising a long-term career promise may create expectations that the workplace cannot substantiate.
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What employers, educators and policymakers can make clearer
The available evidence supports treating visibility as one part of a broader response, not as a proven standalone intervention. Practical questions can help identify where information and opportunity fail to connect:
- Do job descriptions explain the work, conditions and skills required in plain language?
- Can a prospective applicant find the entry requirements and the specific training, apprenticeship or hiring route?
- Are available places and application steps clear for the relevant location and audience?
- Can employers describe realistic progression from entry-level work, including the capabilities or credentials needed?
- Do workforce plans address training capacity and the skills employers say they need, as well as public awareness?
The evidence establishes that skilled-trades vacancies had a higher share of skill-shortage vacancies than vacancies overall, and that some employers report too few interested applicants. It does not establish that campaigns or greater public visibility by themselves reduce those shortages. The sounder approach is to make trades, entry routes and progression easier to understand while ensuring the training and hiring opportunities described are actually available.
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