As discussed above, recruitment difficulties are commonly caused by issues with either the quality or quantity of applicants. Hard-to-fill vacancies caused specifically by a lack of skills,
qualifications or experience among applicants are known as “skill-shortage vacancies”8.
Where there is an issue with the attitude, personality or motivation of applicants, these are not skill-shortage vacancies. Figure 4.5 shows a “map” of how skill-shortage vacancies are defined.
Figure 4.5 Skill-shortage vacancies route map
8
In the 2011 survey, employers were first asked to give their reasons for not being able to fill vacancies spontaneously (i.e.
without being presented with a list of possible reasons). Any employers not reporting skills-related issues were then prompted as to whether any of their hard-to-fill vacancies were proving hard-to-fill due to a lack of skills, experience or qualifications among applicants, and these responses combined to give an overall picture of the incidence and volume of skill-shortage vacancies in the market. In the surveys prior to 2011 the spontaneous data was not collected and all skill-shortage vacancy data was collected on a prompted basis.Vacancies
Hard-to-fill vacancies
Vacancies which are hard-to-fill due to the quality of applicants
Vacancies which are hard-to-fill due to lack
of qualifications
Skill-shortage vacancies
Not hard-to-fill vacancies
Vacancies which are hard-to-fill due to insufficient number of
applicants Vacancies which are
hard-to-fill due to the quality and insufficient
number of applicants
Vacancies which are hard-to-fill due to poor
attitude, personality and motivation Vacancies which are
hard-to-fill due to lack of skills
Vacancies which are hard-to-fill due to lack
of experience
4.5.1 The incidence, volume, density and distribution of skill-shortage
vacancies
For the vast majority of establishments, demand for skills is met through successful recruitment (or through their current workforce, as will be explored in the next chapter). Three per cent of establishments reported having vacancies at the time of the survey that they were having difficulties filling due to a lack of skills, qualifications or experience in applicants for the role (a “skill-shortage vacancy”). This is consistent with the level measured in 2011 and in absolute terms equates to 7,900 vacancies resulting from skill-shortages, again consistent with 2010 figures (see Figure 4.5). So although there was a drop in hard- to-fill vacancies in the 12 months leading up to the survey, this did not necessarily result in a drop in skill-shortage vacancies, suggesting the drop in hard-to-fill vacancies was not due to an increase in the skill level, quality or experience of applicants.
Similarly, there has been little change in the proportion of all vacancies in Scotland since 2010 that are caused by skill shortages (17 per cent at the time of the 2011 survey).
Figure 4.6 Incidence, volume and density skill-shortage vacancies
“Skill-shortage vacancies as a proportion of vacancies” percentages are based on all vacancies, rather than all establishments with vacancies; proportions therefore show the percentage of vacancies which are hard-to-fill due to skill shortages.
23,200 16,400 8,000 7,900 7% 5% 3% 3% 2006 2008 2010 2011
Base: All establishments in Scotland Number of hard-to-fill vacancies rounded to nearest 100 6,276 6,274 6,001 2,453 30% Skill-shortage vacancies as a prop’n of vacancies 24% 18% 17% Unweighted base: (1,827) (1,681) (1,130) (724) Unweighted base:
all with vacancies
Proportion of establishments with a skill-shortage vacancy Number of skill-shortage vacancies
As seen at previous Scottish Employers Skills Surveys the proportion of establishments with skill-shortage vacancies increases with size of establishment.
Establishments in the Manufacturing (seven per cent) and Community, Social and Personal Services activities (six per cent) sectors were most likely to report any skill-shortage vacancies. Although base sizes are small when breaking down skill-shortage vacancy density by sector, the data suggests that as with hard-to-fill vacancies Manufacturing is the sector where vacancies are most likely to be skill-shortage vacancies (see Table 4.3). The Construction, Wholesale and Retail, Business Services, Education and Health and Social Work sectors had seen the largest falls in skill-shortage vacancies. Conversely however some sectors have seen a rise, most notably Hotels and Restaurants and Manufacturing. Table 4.3 Incidence, volume and density of skill-shortage vacancies: 2011
% of establishments with an SSV Number of SSVs % of vacancies that are SSVs Unwtd base % Rounded to nearest 100 Unwtd base % Total 2,453 3 7,900 724 17 Size 1-4 328 2 2,100 23 ** 5-9 317 3 1,000 39 ** 10-24 537 4 1,100 104 17 25-49 388 8 1,500 132 21 50-249 727 10 1,300 342 10 250+ 156 16 1,000 84 12 Sector Agriculture 85 5 400 15 **
Mining and Quarrying 24 ** ** 6 **
Manufacturing 176 7 900 66 30
Electricity, Gas and Water 79 2 100 15 **
Construction 223 1 400 37 **
Wholesale and Retail 311 2 600 74 11
Hotels and Restaurants 218 4 1,300 90 23
Transport and Communications 221 5 1,200 63 25
Financial Services 83 * * 13 **
Business Services 338 3 900 97 15
Public Administration 136 2 300 37 **
Education 164 1 100 77 3
Health and Social Work 208 2 400 75 12
Community, Social and Personal
Services activities 187 6 1,000 59 23
Base: Columns 1 and 2: All establishments in Scotland; Column 3: All establishments with vacancies. Percentages in Column 3 are based on all vacancies, percentages therefore represent the number of skill-shortage vacancies as a proportion of all vacancies.
Number of skill-shortage vacancies rounded to nearest 100.
‘**’ denotes base size <50: too small to report; figures in italics denote base under 100: treat figures with caution. ‘*’ denotes a figure larger than zero but that rounding to the nearest 100 or nearest integer would round to zero.