Essential employment skills required by employers now are set to become even more important in the future, according to a new report.
The report says that while many occupations will experience greater demand for specialist knowledge and skills, it is transferable skills such as collaboration, communication, problem-solving and decision making that will be vital for powering the economy and individual careers in 2035. This might reflect, in part, the fact that transferrable skills such as these, are harder to automate.
Demand for these essential employment skills is expected to grow significantly between now and 2035 as they will be in even higher demand across the labour market than they are already. Furthermore, almost 90 per cent of the 2.2 million new jobs that will be created in England between 2020 and 2035 will be professional and associate professional occupations, such as scientists and engineers. These roles will require higher levels of proficiency in these essential employment skills.
Given the skills shortages that currently exist across the country, these projections suggest that the situation will get even worse in future without action. It is therefore imperative that central government works with local authorities, employers and educationalists to help the workforce develop these skills in tandem with the knowledge acquired in schools. A limited supply of these skills in the future could hold back economic growth, increase friction in the labour market and put some groups at significant risk of unemployment, resulting in widening inequality.
