Calendar year 2024

Occupations in demand

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• Published: 19 September 2024
• Last updated: 25 October 2024
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  1. 25 October 2024

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• Produced by: Department for Education

The occupations in demand index uses seven labour market indicators to rank the demand for each occupation across the UK labour market, as defined by the ONS Standard Occupational Classification (SOC). The indicators include the number of visa applications, online job adverts and annual wage growth.

The methodology identifies 39 occupations in critical demand and a further 128 showing elevated demand across the UK labour market.

 Occupations in demand are identified using the following cut-offs:

• Critical demand: outliers in relation to the seven indicators
• Elevated demand: above-average in relation to the seven indicators
• Not in high demand: below-average in relation to the seven indicators

Results are presented for 336 occupations out of a total of 412 occupations. Occupations were excluded if:

• They were labelled as “not elsewhere classified”
• Data for five or more indicators was missing or imputed

This work identifies occupations which are in demand across the UK, it does not say whether there is a shortage in an occupation. 

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Methodologies

• Occupations in demand technical report and methodology

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Additional supporting files

All supporting files from this release are listed for individual download below:

• Mapping of occupations to industries (csv, 654 Kb)

  Distribution of SOC occupational workers to SIC industry workers. These figures will differ from published SOC20 4-digit data on total workers within occupations because they are for a different population, those of working age (16-64) in employment as used in the occupations in demand analysis. This data has been suppressed where there are less than or equal to 10,000 workers in an occupation or where there were less than 25 observations in the survey data in line with recommendations in the LFS background and methodology: https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/methodologies/labourforcesurveyuserguidance/volume1main2024final.pdf

• Occupations by demand (csv, 27 Kb)

  List of occupations included within the occupations in demand analysis against the level of demand seen, demand index value and number of workers in the occupation.

• SIC to industry name map (csv, 2 Kb)

  Mapping between 2 digit SIC to industry names used in the occupations in demand report

• STEM, shortage occupation list and construction aggregation lookup (csv, 4 Kb)

  Lookup for grouping SOC20 4-digit occupation codes into construction, STEM, and shortage occupation list occupations. Full details can be found in the publication methodology. Construction group is a subset of CITB published occupational groups. STEM group is sourced from the DfE publication "Supply of skills for jobs in science and technology" 2023 release. SOC group is sourced from the 2023 review of the shortage occupation list.

About this release

This official statistics in development release determines the relative demand for occupations, using data on the labour market, routes to employment, and skills as well as building on previous work by the Skills and Productivity board (Understanding current and future skills needs) (opens in a new tab), Migration Advisory Committee (Shortage occupation list methodology review 2023) (opens in a new tab) and with key partners across government. 

A total of seven demand indicators, weighted by recency and publication frequency and scaled so that they were comparable were averaged to create an overall demand index value.

As the demand indicators were scaled, a positive indicator value does not necessarily indicate a positive value, it indicates that the value is above average compared to all other occupations. For example, a value of 0 for a year-on-year scaled indicator could equate to a negative value in the unscaled raw data.

Occupations with an index value of over 0.390 are in critical demand, and occupations with an index value of over 0.004 and below 0.390 are in elevated demand. Any occupations with an index value below 0.004 are not in high demand. Further details on these cut-offs can be found in the methodology.

Demand indicators used to create the demand index value

Indicator	Description
Visa application density	The number of visa applications as a proportion of employment.
Skills shortage vacancy density	The number of vacancies employers have indicated are due to a skills shortage as a proportion of all vacancies.
Online job advert density	The number of online job adverts for an occupation as a proportion of employment.
Annual change in hourly wage	The year-on-year change in average hourly wage in an occupation.
Wage premium	The average wage of an occupation compared to other occupations in the same ONS skill level when controlling for factors such as age and sex.
Annual change in hours worked	The year-on-year change in average weekly hours worked in an occupation.
Annual change in contract or temporary workers	The year-on-year change in the number of contract or temporary workers as a proportion of employment across those years.

This data-led approach does not consider qualitative input from industries and assumes a relationship between changes in the indicators and real demand in the labour market. There are a number of specific methodological points to consider here, for more information please see the methodology document.

• A high demand index is not the same as a shortage in a specific occupation and may not necessarily be due to a skills mismatch, for example, due to wider structural issues such as wages or worked hours. Demand at occupation level may also indicate that there is demand at a more granular level, within speciality occupations such as maths teachers within the teaching profession.
• Occupations which had at five or more non-missing or imputed indicators and described as “not elsewhere classified” (n.e.c.) were excluded from this analysis, 76 out of 412 total occupations. By design the n.e.c. occupations normally cover a more disparate group of occupations than other occupations in the classification, making an indicator score more difficult to interpret.
• Data for Northern Ireland was not available for the indicators “Annual change in hourly wage”, “Wage premium”, and “Annual change in hours worked”, this should be noted where indicators are averaged and findings at a UK level are presented.

We are proposing to make changes to this release for 2025 and invite users to feedback on the findings and methods used. Please use our contact details at the end of the release to get in touch.

Occupations in demand

Across the UK labour market over 2.5m workers are in critical demand occupations, 7.8% of the UK working population. This includes 39 occupations, of which care workers and home carers has the largest number of workers at 816k.

A further 12.6m workers are in elevated demand occupations, 38.5% of the UK working population. This includes 128 occupations, of which programmers and software development professionals has the largest number of workers at 561k.

The occupations in critical demand can be found below and a full list of occupations by demand level and demand index is available in the supporting file “occupations by demand”.

Qualifications and skill requirements for in demand occupations

ONS skill levels

ONS have classified SOC 2020 occupations into four skill levels (opens in a new tab), approximated by the length of time deemed necessary for a person to become fully competent in the performance of the tasks associated with a job.

These ONS skills levels roughly correspond to an equivalent qualification level generally required or held by workers in each occupation. The mapping to qualification levels is approximate and done at a high level, meaning it is useful for summarising results but there will be discrepancies for some individual occupations. Further information on qualification levels can be found here: What qualification levels mean: England, Wales and Northern Ireland (opens in a new tab)

ONS skill level	Description	Equivalent qualification level
1	Occupations where competence is associated with satisfactory grades from compulsory education.	Below level 2
2	Occupations which require a longer period of work-related training on top of a compulsory education	Level 2
3	Occupations which normally require a body of knowledge associated with a period of post-compulsory education but not normally to degree level	Level 3 to 5
4	Occupations which normally require a degree of equivalent period of relevant work experience	Level 6 +

The majority (76.9%) of workers in occupations in critical demand in the UK are at skill level 2 or 3:

• 42.0% (over 1m) of workers in occupations in critical demand are at skill level 2. These are predominantly roles in the health and social care industry and include care workers and home carers (816k) - which makes up over 75% of skill level 2 occupation workers in critical demand - and senior care workers (99k).
• 34.9% (896k) of workers in occupations in critical demand are at skill level 3. These include sales accounts and business development managers (331k) - which makes up almost 37% of skill level 3 occupation workers in critical demand - and metal working production, and maintenance fitters (196k).
• 17.5% (449k) of workers in occupations in critical demand are at skill level 4. These include academic researchers (71k) and quantity surveyors (69k).

Nearly half (46.0%) of workers in occupations in elevated demand in the UK are at skill level 4:

• Of the 5.8m workers in occupations in elevated demand at skill level 4, the largest occupations are programmers and software development professionals (561k) - which makes up almost 10% of skill level 4 occupation workers in elevated demand - and secondary education teaching professionals (444k).
• 26.9% (almost 3.4m) of workers occupations in in elevated demand are at skill level 2. These include payroll managers and wages clerks (418k) and nursing auxiliaries and assistants including medical, theatre and rehabilitation assistants (292k).
• 22.2% (almost 2.8m) of workers in occupations in elevated demand occupations are at skill level 3. These roles include chefs (208k) and electricians and electrical fitters (205k).

Demand for occupations across industries

Worker numbers in this section refer to the workers in an occupation who are in employment and of working age (16-64) and within a specific industry. Therefore, totals in this section will be lower than the totals in previous sections.

For example ,the occupational group ‘care workers and home carers’ includes 816k workers. This reduces to 783k when only considering the working age population, and reduces further to 725k when only including those specifically working in the health and social care industry.

A full list of occupations with their working age in employment population can be found in the supporting file “Mapping of occupations to industries”.

The health industry has the largest number of workers in demand occupations, where 980k (21.9%) workers are in occupations in critical demand, and almost 2m (44.2%) workers are in occupations in elevated demand. 

The three largest occupations in demand in the health industry are:

• Care workers and home carers (725k).
• Other registered nursing professionals (347k), including ambulatory, palliative nurses and care home matrons.
• Nursing auxiliaries and assistants (241k), including medical, theatre and rehabilitation assistants.

These are in demand due to a high visa application density and high year-on-year change in hourly wages indicators. This may indicate that while demand is currently being met in this industry through migrant workers, comparative improvements to year-on-year hourly wage may be being made to incentivise employment.

 

The education industry has the second largest number of workers in demand occupations, this industry has a lower proportion of workers in critical demand occupations at 114k (3.4%) and almost 1.6m (47.1%) workers in elevated demand occupations.

The three largest occupations in demand in the education industry are:

• Secondary education teaching professionals (431k)
• Teaching assistants (239k)
• Higher education teaching professionals (238k)

For the education industry, the wage premium compared to occupations at the same ONS skill level and the year-on-year change in number of hours worked were the highest demand indicators. This may indicate that while, on average, wage is comparable or better than occupations requiring the same skill level, this is not sufficient to attract an employee base large enough to meet demand and therefore additional hours are worked to meet this need.

The finance and insurance industry has a lower number of workers in demand occupations compared to both the health and social care industry and the education industry, but has the highest proportion of the total industry workforce (69.4%) in demand occupations. This accounts for 994k workers.

The three largest occupations in demand in the finance and insurance industry are:

• Finance and investment analysts and advisers (180k)
• Financial managers and directors (116k)
• Programmers and software development professionals (67k)

The highest demand indicators in these occupations were the annual change in hourly wage and wage premium indicators which could indicate that this industry is paid comparatively well when comparing occupations in the industry to occupations in the same ONS skill level and that these occupations incentivise workers through changes in hourly earnings.

 

The motor trades industry has the third highest proportion of the total industry workforce (64.6%) in demand occupations, slightly lower than the health and social care industry (66.1%). This accounts for 241k workers.

The three largest occupations in demand in the motor trades industry are:

• Vehicle technicians, mechanics, and electricians (96k)
• Vehicle and parts salespersons and advisers (22k)
• Metal working production and maintenance fitters (17k)

For these occupations, the density of online job adverts and the annual change in hourly wage were the highest demand indicators. This may indicate that the industry is trying to meet demand through increased advertising for staff and changes in hourly earnings. 

Demand across grouped occupations

Occupations were grouped together through clustering techniques into four distinct groups based on the demand indicators to help communicate why individual occupations are identified as being in demand.

• Group 1: Those with a high visa application density indicator
• Group 2: Those with a higher annual change in contract or temporary workers and online job advert density indicators.
• Group 3: Those with a low wage premium indicator and a higher skills shortage vacancy density and annual change in hourly wage indicator
• Group 4: Those with a low online job advert density indicator and higher wage premium and annual change in hours worked indicators

Groups 1 and 2 have a higher proportion of workers in critical demand occupations (100% and 25.3% respectively), with 58.2% of workers in group 2 occupations in elevated demand occupations. In contrast, groups 3 and 4 have a higher proportion of workers in occupations which are not in high demand (50.5% and 56.3% respectively), but also include a large proportion of workers in elevated demand occupations (48.4% and 42.9% respectively).

Group 1

All workers in group 1 are occupations in critical demand. These are characterised by a high visa application density. This may indicate an extended period of demand which has been met by an increase in migrant workers. 

The occupations in this group are:

• Care workers and home carers (815k)
• Senior care workers (99k)
• Farm workers (49k)
• Butchers (16k)

86% of workers in this group are employed in the health and social care industry primarily due to the large workforce in this industry from the care workers and home carers occupation.

Group 2

Occupations in group 2 have higher online job advert density and year-on-year change in the number of contract or temporary worker indicators. This could indicate a more recent period of increased demand which is being met by advertising to fill roles and employing people on a shorter-term basis. 

The three largest occupations in demand in this group are:

• Book-keepers, payroll managers, and wages clerks (418k)
• Sales accounts and business development managers (331k)
• Human resources and industrial relations officers (200k)

18% of workers in demand occupations in this group are employed in the health and social care industry and 15% are employed in the manufacturing and production industry.

Group 3

Occupations in group 3 are characterised by higher skilled shortage vacancies and year-on-year change in hourly wage indicators but a lower wage premium indicator. This could indicate that occupations in this cluster are less well paid compared to occupations in the same skill level, but employers have begun to make relative improvements to hourly wages to incentivise employment in these occupations to meet skilled shortage vacancies.

It could also indicate that wage increases in the occupations in demand in this group are not happening fast enough to make wages comparable to other occupations in the same skill level and attract skilled workers, or that occupations in this group could attract workers through methods other than wage increases.

The three largest occupations in demand in this group are:

• Other registered nursing professionals (399k) including ambulatory, palliative nurses and care home matrons
• Finance and investment analysts and advisers (293k)
• Production managers and directors in manufacturing (270k)

25% of workers in demand occupations in this group are employed in the health and social care industry and 14% are employed in the education industry.

Group 4

Occupations in group 4 have higher wage premium and year-on-year change in hours worked indicators and low online job advert density, skilled shortage vacancy density and visa application density indicators. This could indicate that occupations in this cluster are in relatively well-paid employment and have relatively few vacancies, but demand may not currently be met by the current workforce size so additional hours are being worked to meet demand.

Occupations in this group may be incentivising current workers to remain in the occupation but could potentially benefit from additional job advertisements to increase the number of workers and meet demand.

The three largest occupations in demand in this group are:

• Programmers and software development professionals (561k)
• Financial managers and directors (411k)
• Warehouse operatives (361k)

14% of workers in demand occupations in this group are employed in the professional, scientific and technical industry and 12% are employed in the health and social care industry.

Average wages of occupations in demand

The median wage for workers in critical demand occupations (£19.24 per hour) is higher than the wage for elevated demand occupations (£18.08 per hour), and those not in demand (£16.36 per hour). While median wage increases as demand increases, wages for individual occupations do not always increase in line with the demand index. 

The occupations with the top three demand index scores all have an ONS skill level of 2, but two of these have median hourly wages lower than the median wage for occupations not in high demand:

• Senior care workers (£12.19 per hour)
• Rail construction and maintenance operatives (£19.72 per hour)
• Care workers and home carers (£11.82 per hour)

This indicates that the most in demand occupations are not always the most well compensated, and potentially that increasing wages in these occupations could address demand. 

The care working professions have a high demand index score due to their high density of visa applications, which indicates that the demand for these occupations is being met mainly through migrant workers and so it is possible that changes to wage structures may attract other workers to fill the roles.

Rail construction and maintenance operatives however have higher indicator scores for wage premium and an increase in the number of hours worked whereas hourly wage has decreased. This may indicate that although this occupation has a comparatively high wage, this has not been enough to attract a large enough workforce to meet demand and therefore current staff are required to work additional hours to meet demand needs.

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Methodology

Find out how and why we collect, process and publish these statistics.

• Occupations in demand technical report and methodology

Official statistics in development

These statistics are undergoing a development. They have been developed under the guidance of the Head of Profession for Statistics and published to involve users and stakeholders at an early stage in assessing their suitability and quality.

They have been produced as far as possible in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics.

This can be broadly interpreted to mean that these statistics are:

• managed impartially and objectively in the public interest
• meet identified user needs
• produced according to sound methods
• well explained and readily accessible

Find out more about the standards we follow to produce these statistics through our Standards for official statistics published by DfE guidance.

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If you have a specific enquiry about Occupations in demand statistics and data:

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Contact name: Nathan Chalam-Judge

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