Calendar year 2019

Employer Skills Survey

Data guidance

Published 30 March 2023

Description

This document describes the key data from the Employer Skills Survey 2019. Findings from this survey were originally published in research reports in October 2020. This document brings together some of the key indicators and filters from the survey as official statistics for the first time. Future releases are likely to expand the number of indicators and filters available.

The technical documentation should be referenced alongside this data. It provides information on sampling, data sources and the methodology used in producing the data.

Coverage

This release includes key data from the Employer Skills Survey 2019, with comparison data for some indicators from 2017. The Employer Skills Survey 2019 covered England, Wales and Northern Ireland, as Scotland did not take part in the Employer Skills Survey that year. Therefore, comparisons to the 2017 survey are comparisons to England, Wales and Northern Ireland only. Fieldwork for the 2019 survey took place from May to December 2019.

This release covers:

Vacancy incidence, density and volume in 2017 and 2019
Hard to fill vacancy incidence, density and volume in 2017 and 2019
Skill-shortage vacancy incidence, density and volume in 2017 and 2019
Skill gap incidence, density and volume in 2017 and 2019
Average days of training per employee and trainee, total number of training days and number and proportion of employees trained and establishments arranging and paying for training in the past 12 months in 2017 and 2019
Vacancy measures by occupational group in 2019
Employer investment in training in 2019

Data can be broken down by:

UK nation and English region
Sector (13 sector groups)
Single or multi-site
Establishment type
Establishment size
Occupational group

Data files

All data files associated with this release are listed below with guidance on their content. To download any of these files, please visit our data catalogue.

Data files

All data files associated with this releases are listed below with guidance on their content. To download any of these files, please visit our data catalogue.

Core Indicators

Filename: core_indicators_17_19.csv
Geographic levels: National; Regional
Time period: 2017 to 2019
Content: The total volume, incidence and density of skill gaps, vacancies, hard to reach vacancies and skill-shortage vacancies, as well as average and total days of training, number and proportion of employees trained and establishments arranging or paying for training, in 2017 and 2019. Indicators can be broken down by UK nation, English region, sector, site type, establishment type and establishment size.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
employees	Number of employees
estab_size	Establishment size - Filter by establishment size
estab_type	Establishment type - Filter by establishment type
has_htfv	Number of establishments with at least one hard-to-fill vacancy
has_skillgap	Number of establishments with at least one skill gap (i.e. 1+ employee not fully proficient)
has_ssv	Number of establishments with at least one skill-shortage vacancy
has_trained	Number of establishments that arranged or paid for any training in the past 12 months
has_vac	Number of establishments with at least one vacancy
htfv_den	Hard-to-fill vacancy density (HtF vacancies as a share of vacancies)
htfv_inc	Percentage of establishments with at least one hard-to-fill vacancy
htfv_sum	Number of hard-to-fill vacancies
sample_size	Unweighted base of establishments
sample_size_w_vac	Unweighted base of establishments with vacancies
sector	Sector - Filter by sector
single_or_multi_site	Single site or one of multiple sites within organisation - Filter by single or multi-sites
skillgap_den	Skill gap density (the proportion of employees judged not fully proficient)
skillgap_inc	Percentage of establishments with at least one skill gap (i.e. 1+ employee not fully proficient)
skillgaps	Number of skill gaps (employees not fully proficient)
ssv_den	Skill-shortage vacancy density (SSVs as a share of vacancies)
ssv_inc	Percentage of establishments with at least one skill-shortage vacancy
ssv_sum	Number of skill-shortage vacancies
train_days_employee	Average number of days training per employee
train_days_trainee	Average number of days training per trainee
trainees	Number of employees trained in the past 12 months
training_days	Total number of training days for employees
training_den	Proportion of employees that received any training in the past 12 months
training_inc	Percentage of establishments that arranged or paid for any training in the past 12 months
vac_den	Vacancy density (vacancies per 100 employees)
vac_inc	Percentage of establishments with at least one vacancy
vac_sum	Number of vacancies
weight_base	Number of establishments in population

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Investment in training

Filename: iit_19.csv
Geographic levels: National; Regional
Time period: 2019
Content: The total investment through all training, off-the-job training and on-the-job training, as well as investment in training per employee and trainee in 2019. Indicators can be broken down by UK nation, sector and establishment size.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
employees	Number of employees
estab_size	Establishment size - Filter by establishment size
iit_sample_size	Sample size in the Investment in Training follow-up survey
sector	Sector - Filter by sector
sum_off_job_mn	Total investment through off-the-job training
sum_on_job_mn	Total investment through on-the-job training
sum_total_mn	Total investment through all training
total_per_employee	Investment in training per employee
total_per_trainee	Investment in training per trainee
trainees	Number of trainees

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Vacancy measures by occupational group

Filename: vac_indicators_soc.csv
Geographic levels: National
Time period: 2019
Content: The total number of vacancies and establishments with at least one vacancy at 4 digit SOC level, number of hard to fill and skill-shortage vacancies, as well as hard to fill and skill-shortage vacancy density in 2019. Indicators can be broken down by UK nation, occupational group and sector.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name	Variable description
htfv_den	Hard to fill vacancy density (as a percentage of vacancies for the SOC code)
htfv_sum	Number of hard to fill vacancies
sample_estab_w_vac_for_x_occ	Number of establishments with at least one vacancy at the 4 digit SOC level
sector	Sector - Filter by sector
soc_1_labelled	1 digit SOC code and name - Filter by 1 digit SOC code (SOC2010)
soc_2_labelled	2 digit SOC code and name - Filter by 2 digit SOC code (SOC2010)
soc_3_labelled	3 digit SOC code and name - Filter by 3 digit SOC code (SOC2010)
soc_4_labelled	4 digit SOC code and name - Filter by 4 digit SOC code (SOC2010)
ssv_den	Skill shortage vacancy density (as a percentage of vacancies for the SOC code)
ssv_sum	Number of skill-shortage vacancies
vac_sum	Number of vacancies

Footnotes

The sum of vacancies by occupation is slightly lower than the total number of vacancies shown in the core indicator file. (This is also the case for hard-to-fill and skill-shortage vacancies.) This is because the survey only collects detailed information on up to 6 different occupations per establishment, in order to prevent excessively long interviews. If the intention is to show the total number of vacancies, use the core indicator file.
For some vacancies, there is insufficient information from respondents to code a particular occupation (i.e. a 4 digit SOC code). In these cases, the vacancy is shown as 'not codeable to this level of SOC'. The vacancies are shown at a higher levels of occupational aggregation (e.g. a 3, 2 or 1 digit SOC code) where there is enough information to allow this.

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