Skill shortages hitting insurance, eCommerce and transport hardest

According to a new report, the insurance, eCommerce and transport industries are being hit the hardest by skill shortages, with some facing the prospect of just 2% of the currently vacant roles being filled.

Business management software specialists, ECI, has compiled The Skills Shortages Report which reveals that the insurance industry is facing the biggest challenge of finding highly-skilled people to fill the currently open roles in this sector.

To find out which sectors are facing the worst shortages, ECI Software Solutions looked at 20 industries across the UK and identified five different job positions for each. LinkedIn revealed how many jobs were available for those positions and was able to compare to the number of people currently searching on Google for those roles.

In the insurance sector, there’s a risk of just one in 100 jobs being filled, with just 570 searches a month for the likes of risk surveyor, insurance sales representative and insurance brokers, despite 46,758 jobs on offer.

This is followed closely behind by eCommerce, which ranks second place as the data reveals that there’s a chance of only two in 100 jobs being taken off the market. Similarly, the transport industry has slightly higher odds of one in 25 roles being filled but still not enough to close the gap.

The ten industries facing the biggest shortage of employees are:

Rank	Industry	Number of job roles available on LinkedIn	Number of people searching for jobs	% of likelihood to be filled
1	Insurance	46,578	570	1.22%
2	Ecommerce	35,800	620	1.73%
3	Transport	54,996	2,410	4.38%
4	Retail	56,067	2630	4.69%
5	Tech	118,211	6,800	5.75%
6	Consultancy	40,163	2,560	6.37%
7	Construction	34,478	2,870	8.32%
8	Wholesale	54,920	5,400	9.83%
9	Finance	62,294	6,610	10.61%
10	Engineering	64,580	7,180	11.12%

 

Commenting on the research, Chris Fisher – LBMH Operations Director, EMEA at ECI Software Solutions, said: “Workplaces have significantly evolved and digitalised over recent years and with the introduction of technology into everyday processes, the skills required to undertake certain roles have drastically changed. This situation is creating both opportunities and challenges for business leaders looking to fill vacant positions, with many also having to evaluate how they are marketing themselves as an organisation.

“That being said, there are still plenty of opportunities to train and up-skill existing staff or potentially offer apprenticeships to entice new recruits. It’s clear that some industries may be falling behind in terms of appealing to the right candidates and making a career in the field look appealing. Combatting this starts at a grassroots level – encouraging students to explore the opportunities in these sectors, but also highlighting how most skills are transferable.”