Study – UK Telecoms Industry Ranked 13th Most in Need of Workers

A new study of job listings on employment hunting site Indeed claims to have identified the top 25 UK industries most in need of workers, which among other things reveals that the telecommunications (broadband, Ethernet and mobile etc.) sector ranks 13th overall with 3,352 job listings. But Healthcare dominates.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) recently reported that the number of job vacancies in March to May 2022 rose to a new record of 1.3 million and, according to the latest study by Claims.co.uk, the Healthcare industry is the one most in need of workers (69,399 listings on Indeed).

However, many UK sectors are currently suffering from staff shortages – particularly those that require people with pre-existing skills in specific fields, and telecommunications is no exception. As most people will already know, network operators and ISPs are currently busy upgrading their full fibre (FTTP), gigabit-capable broadband and 5G mobile infrastructure across the UK, which is driving demand for engineers.

At present there is a well-known shortage of skilled fibre engineers in the market, which has resulted in operators and contractors investing more money into training programmes. But these will take time to turn out the necessary workers and won’t solve the immediate challenges overnight.

On top of that, the ISPs that rely on such networks in order to sell their services directly to consumers and businesses also need to hire new staff to help them grow around the new infrastructure, such as in roles that cover everything from support to sales and logistics etc.

The table below is by no means a definitive overview of this challenge, and it’s no doubt hobbled by the limited coverage of Indeed’s own website, yet it does perhaps provide a useful indication. But one caveat is the lack of historical data, which would be needed to better understand how today’s market compares with the pre-full fibre era.