Buckinghamshire Skills Hub has published its Labour Market Intelligence (LMI) Update for Buckinghamshire, which is full of detail on:

• Most sought after skills for local businesses
• Most sought after occupations for jobseekers
• Job openings by location
• Job openings by sector
• Advertised salaries for job openings
• Employment forecasts by sector to 2030
• Brexit & what it may mean for Buckinghamshire’s labour market
• The Fourth Industrial Revolution

Buckinghamshire is particularly strong in several sectors that are key to the government’s Industrial Strategy, and as such, the LMI Report also focuses in detail on:

• Creative industries
• The digital economy
• Engineering and manufacturing
• Life sciences and agri-tech
• Construction
• Health and social care

Read the full report

Download the full LMI Report here >

You can also get a taster by reading Skills Development Manager at Buckinghamshire Skills Hub Jackie Campbell’s foreword to the report below.

Foreword to the LMI Report

Today’s young people and adults face tough competition for jobs, yet many employers report difficulties in recruiting people with the right skills. The working world has changed fundamentally over the past generation, creating an employment challenge caused by the demise of the job for life, the emergence of the knowledge economy and the loss of many unskilled and semi-skilled jobs due to technological and globalisation changes.

To compete successfully in a rapidly changing global economy, employers need a workforce equipped with a broad range of skills, knowledge and attributes. One which has the ability to think critically and is enterprising, innovative, adaptable, and self-motivated.

While it is difficult to predict the future labour landscape, awareness of local labour market intelligence, looking as far ahead as possible, can improve our understanding of the skills, qualifications and wider attributes that are needed for the future. Economies and policies change – so do students’ aspirations and circumstances – so it is also important that the range of skills and attributes developed are transferrable and will enhance, and ultimately aim to future proof, everyone’s lifelong employability.

On December 4th 2017, the Government launched its long-awaited Careers Strategy which is part of the Government’s plan to make Britain fairer, improve social mobility and offer opportunity to everyone. It is aligned to the recently published Industrial Strategy which focuses on building a Britain fit for the future by investing in the development of skills to meet the changing needs of business, increase productivity and drive growth across the country. The careers strategy aims to support everyone, whatever their age, to go as far as their talents will take them and have a rewarding career, and sets out a plan to achieve just that, working closely with various stakeholders. Employers have an important part to play in supporting individuals to grow and develop.

BTVLEP’s Buckinghamshire Skills Hub supports careers inspiration and skills development activities in schools and colleges in Buckinghamshire to improve the work preparedness of our young people by connecting businesses to educators and young people. Through its Enterprise Adviser Network, and OppsinBucks.org and WANNABEbucks.org platforms, it works across the majority of the secondary schools in the county and supported or facilitated over 52,000 student-employer encounters in 2016-17. Encounters encompass careers talks, skills development workshops, industry-led challenges and competitions, careers events, work place visits, and work placements.

The second Bucks Skills Show took place in October 2017, where 1,700 young people came and interacted with a broad range of employers and listened to industry speakers from our key growth sectors which include creative industries, high performance engineering, space industries, life sciences, health and social care, and construction.

STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) skills often underpin these sectors and the government recognised in its ‘Building Our Industrial Strategy’ Green Paper that the UK has “particular skills shortages in sectors that depend on STEM subjects, where we need more of these graduates to compete successfully in a global economy”. STEM jobs are expected to grow at double the rate of other occupations, creating 142,000 jobs between now and 2023. In particular, it is important to encourage more women to go into STEM occupations to not only address the skills shortages but to also work towards eliminating the gender pay gap. In response to this, we are currently piloting a Buckinghamshire Skills Hub and STEM Now initiative which sees our dynamic Enterprise Advisers partnered with STEM Ambassadors to ensure schools’ employer engagement and career inspiration activities include a STEM focus.

We look forward to working with you to build a dynamic future workforce that meets the needs of industry in order to drive productivity and growth both in Buckinghamshire and beyond.

Benefits to businesses and those seeking work

The mutual benefit of a meeting between a business with a vacancy and someone looking for a work position is obvious, and by connecting both parties we can move towards a world where everyone has the opportunity to fulfil their potential, while also creating a robust skills base in Buckinghamshire, ensuring no business finds itself short of the talent it requires to grow.

Talent Tuesday events

Buckinghamshire’s #TalentTuesday event returns on Tuesday March 27th to bring businesses from all sectors together with young people who want to become an apprentice or trainee, or gain work experience.

You can find out more and sign up for a stand for free, here.

Sharpen your skills with our Virtual Adviser tool

The Virtual Adviser will help you identify the strengths and weaknesses of your business and highlight any areas where you may want to up-skill.

Use the Virtual Adviser today and start your up-skilling journey!

We have also teamed up with skills specialists Adviza to offer £150 training vouchers to put towards the cost of any training you undertake. We will be able to let you know if you are eligible for this funding once you have completed the Virtual Adviser.