UK employer skills survey

Industry sector data is presented on reported vacancies, hard-to-fill vacancies (vacancies reported as such by companies), skill-shortage vacancies (vacancies hard to fill due to applicants not having the appropriate skills, qualifications or experience) and density of skills shortages (proportion of skills shortages over all vacancies in occupational group). The data is collected through the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) Employer Skills Survey. This survey is run every second year, involves interviews with 91,000 workplace establishments (including more than 10,000 establishments in London).  Results for 2015 were released in April 2016. Firms are sampled from the Inter-Departmental Business Register from those firms that have at least two staff (including both employees and working proprietors). Respondents are asked questions about investment in the skills of their workforce, vacancies and their difficulties in recruiting labour with their required skill sets.