The publication methodology (opens in a new tab) explains the definitions used and how estimates have been produced. It also provides information on the data sources, their coverage and quality.
Coverage
The data used in this release mostly relate to the UK labour market and are aggregated together to create a UK demand index. The exception to this are indicators using data from the annual survey of hours and earnings, which does not contain data from Northern Ireland and is therefore Great Britain only.
The earliest data used in this release contains data to April 2022, the latest contains data to March 2024.
Information on how occupations or industries have been grouped together can be found in the additional supporting files of this release.
The underlying data files are provided in comma separated value (csv) format.
Rounding and decimal places vary across the different files, based on conventions for the relevant sources and what is appropriate for the analysis that has been undertaken.
Symbols used in the underlying data are as follows:
‘z’ when an observation is not applicable
‘x’ when data is unavailable for other reasons
‘c’ confidential data removed due to suppression
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.
Scaled and weighted occupation demand
Filename
scaled_weighted_oid_output.csv
Geographic levels
National
Time period
2024
Content
This file contains demand indicators used in determining occupations in demand after weighting and scaling together with the overall demand index.
Variable names and descriptions
Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:
Variable name
Variable description
annual_change_in_contract_temp_workers
Annual change in contract or temporary workers
annual_change_in_hourly_wage
Annual change in hourly wage
annual_change_in_hours_worked
Annual change in hours worked
cluster
Occupation group - Filter by occupation cluster groups
construction
Occupation is in construction - Filter by construction occupations
count
Number of occupations
demand_index
Demand index
demand_level
Demand type - Filter by type of demand
demand_level_percent
Proportion of workers in demand
employees
Number of workers
hourly_wage
Average hourly wage
imputed_indicators
Number of indicators imputed from 3-digit SOC
missing_indicators
Number of indicators with missing data
online_job_ad_density
Online job advert density
percent
Proportion of workers
shortage_occupation_list
Occupation is in the shortage occupation list - Filter by shortage occupation list occupations
skill_level
ONS skill level - Filter by skill level
skills_shortage_vacancy_density
Skills shortage vacancy density
SOC_description
SOC20 Description - Filter by occupation description
SOC20
SOC20 - Filter by occupation
STEM
Occupation is in STEM - Filter by STEM occupations
visa_application_density
Visa application density
wage_premium
Wage premium
Footnotes
Some occupations from ONS’ job advert statistics were excluded from this analysis since the relative occupational distribution compared with annual population survey occupational data were judged in some cases to be relatively atypical. ONS plan to continue improving their statistics, including with an enhanced SOC allocation process, which may trigger revisions of the occupations excluded in future.
Only occupations which did not have any missing demand indicator data and were not otherwise excluded from the analysis were included in the clustering analysis, 268 out of 412 occupations.
Only four occupations were grouped into group 1. These occupations were grouped together because visa application density was their main demand indicator and this indicator was much higher than seen in all other occupations, indicating these occupations may react strongly to changes to visa rules.
The demand index covers a range of scores between -1.22 and 1.49.
Elected officers and representatives and senior officers in fire, ambulance, prison and related services are in critical demand due to a high wage premium and annual change in hours worked indicator respectively. However, data for these occupations is unavailable for three out of seven indicators and data is imputed from 3-digit SOC20 data for the remaining four. This also applies to three occupations in elevated demand: collector salespersons and credit agents, market and street traders and assistants, and visual merchandisers and related occupations. Care should be taken when considering the demand for these occupations.
This file contains demand indicators used in determining occupations in demand before weighting and scaling.
Variable names and descriptions
Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:
Variable name
Variable description
annual_change_in_contract_temp_workers
Annual change in contract or temporary workers
annual_change_in_hourly_wage
Annual change in hourly wage
annual_change_in_hours_worked
Annual change in hours worked
cluster
Occupation group - Filter by occupation cluster groups
construction
Occupation is in construction - Filter by construction occupations
count
Number of occupations
demand_level
Demand type - Filter by type of demand
demand_level_percent
Proportion of workers in demand
employees
Number of workers
hourly_wage
Average hourly wage
imputed_indicators
Number of indicators imputed from 3-digit SOC
missing_indicators
Number of indicators with missing data
online_job_ad_density
Online job advert density
percent
Proportion of workers
shortage_occupation_list
Occupation is in the shortage occupation list - Filter by shortage occupation list occupations
skill_level
ONS skill level - Filter by skill level
skills_shortage_vacancy_density
Skills shortage vacancy density
SOC_description
SOC20 Description - Filter by occupation description
SOC20
SOC20 - Filter by occupation
STEM
Occupation is in STEM - Filter by STEM occupations
visa_application_density
Visa application density
wage_premium
Wage premium
Footnotes
Some occupations from ONS’ job advert statistics were excluded from this analysis since the relative occupational distribution compared with annual population survey occupational data were judged in some cases to be relatively atypical. ONS plan to continue improving their statistics, including with an enhanced SOC allocation process, which may trigger revisions of the occupations excluded in future.
Only occupations which did not have any missing demand indicator data and were not otherwise excluded from the analysis were included in the clustering analysis, 268 out of 412 occupations.
Only four occupations were grouped into group 1. These occupations were grouped together because visa application density was their main demand indicator and this indicator was much higher than seen in all other occupations, indicating these occupations may react strongly to changes to visa rules.
This file contains industry level demand indicators used in determining industries in demand after weighting and scaling.
Variable names and descriptions
Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:
Variable name
Variable description
annual_change_in_contract_temp_workers
Annual change in contract or temporary workers
annual_change_in_hourly_wage
Annual change in hourly wage
annual_change_in_hours_worked
Annual change in hours worked
cluster
Occupation group - Filter by occupation cluster groups
construction
Occupation is in construction - Filter by construction occupations
count
Number of occupations
demand_index
Demand index
demand_level
Demand type - Filter by type of demand
demand_level_percent
Proportion of workers in demand
hourly_wage
Average hourly wage
imputed_indicators
Number of indicators imputed from 3-digit SOC
industry_employees
Industry workers
missing_indicators
Number of indicators with missing data
occupation_employees
Occupation workers
online_job_ad_density
Online job advert density
percent
Proportion of workers
shortage_occupation_list
Occupation is in the shortage occupation list - Filter by shortage occupation list occupations
SIC_name
Industry name - Filter by industry
skill_level
ONS skill level - Filter by skill level
skills_shortage_vacancy_density
Skills shortage vacancy density
SOC_description
SOC20 Description - Filter by occupation description
SOC20
SOC20 - Filter by occupation
STEM
Occupation is in STEM - Filter by STEM occupations
visa_application_density
Visa application density
wage_premium
Wage premium
Footnotes
Some occupations from ONS’ job advert statistics were excluded from this analysis since the relative occupational distribution compared with annual population survey occupational data were judged in some cases to be relatively atypical. ONS plan to continue improving their statistics, including with an enhanced SOC allocation process, which may trigger revisions of the occupations excluded in future.
Only occupations which did not have any missing demand indicator data and were not otherwise excluded from the analysis were included in the clustering analysis, 268 out of 412 occupations.
Only four occupations were grouped into group 1. These occupations were grouped together because visa application density was their main demand indicator and this indicator was much higher than seen in all other occupations, indicating these occupations may react strongly to changes to visa rules.