The UK Skills Revolution
Building a Data-Driven Skills System in an Era of Disruption
Disruptive innovation is changing many UK jobs.
The UK labour market is undergoing a period of profound transformation— the adoption of new technologies and the introduction of new policy initiatives have ushered in vast changes in the workforce.
The Top 20 skills for the average job in the UK have changed 33% since 2021. This robust rate of change has created an urgent need for solutions. In education and training, there needs to be a far stronger focus on skills development, lifelong learning, and adaptability through upskilling. National and regional government needs to ensure that changes to the skills system are made on the basis of solid evidence of what skills are actually needed. For employers and employer groups, attention needs to be given to understanding the skills they need to grow, and to working with education and training providers to retrain and upskill their workforce to meet these skills needs.
We are in the midst of a UK skills revolution. Disruptive innovation has created the need; now we must respond by building a data-driven skills system to create a future-ready workforce. This report shows how.
The UK Skills Disruption Index
The UK Skills Disruption Index measures how occupations across the United Kingdom have changed in terms of employer skills requirements. Using our Lightcast Occupation Taxonomy (LOT), we’ve created a “Skills Disruption Index” for all Career Areas and for 400+ Occupations, measuring how much their skill composition has changed from 2021 and 2024. The chart below shows this for the broadest category – Career Areas.
The biggest skills changes are in the areas of Information Technology and Computer Science; Marketing and Public Relations; and Design, Media, and Writing. At the other end of the chart, areas with the least skills disruption include Performing Arts; Community and Social Services; and Transportation.
Download the full report to explore the UK Skills Disruption Index, inclusive of the top 50 most disrupted occupations as a result of their required skills having changed dramatically over the past three years.
UK Sectors Experiencing Robust Skill Disruption
We zoomed in on the most important trends that are driving changes in the four sectors that the UK Government's Skills England body identified as the country's biggest priorities. In our full report, for each of these areas, we provide pertinent findings from our data, and practical recommendations for navigating changes to ensure the UK workforce is future-ready. Here are our key takeaways for the sectors experiencing robust skill disruption.
Digital Technology
Key finding: The explosive growth in Generative AI is actually being seen in more non-tech jobs than it is in tech jobs.
The Green Workforce
Key finding: The rise in the green economy is being seen more in the “greening” of existing roles than in the creation of new green jobs.
Construction and Housebuilding
Key finding: Meeting the government’s housebuilding target will require a data-driven solution for reskilling or retraining from other jobs.
Life Sciences
Key finding: Life Science companies tend to cluster together geographically, so any attempts at meeting their skills needs must take this into account.
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