UK Automotive Sector Baseline Report 2022
As a professional body, the IMI is dedicated to the advancement of the automotive sector which covers many different sub-sectors and occupations. We believe that the automotive sector is a driver of innovation, employment and economic growth. People working in the sector need the most relevant, up-to-date skills and qualifications in order to progress – especially during times of intense change. The IMI’s purpose is to provide, and continually evolve, the means by which people working in the automotive sector can attain relevant, professional competence and appropriate recognition.
The sector faces its biggest skills challenge in the past two decades. With currently a record number of vacancies across the sector and the task to meet the new skills required to meet the green agenda its certainly is a challenging time. Creating a more diverse and inclusive workforce is one way to tackle this issue as well as providing the support and training to equip the workforce to deliver the governments climate commitments.
The automotive sector continues to be imperative to the UK economy in terms of supply of 742,600 jobs to the labour market and contributing £37 billion to the UK economy.
Despite strong growth in the past 10 years, leading to an additional 93,000 new jobs in sector, the pandemic has significantly affected jobs in the past 2 years with 65,000 fewer jobs than in 2019. This is more acute with automotive retail sector compared to manufacturing. The effect of the pandemic in the past 2 years has not been universal across all subsectors and it appears some have had a greater impact than others.
10% of the sectors workforce are in senior roles, this has increased by 15% in the past 10 years. 5 automotive occupations are indicated some degree of labour turnover, the highest being vehicle technicians and body builders and repairers. This is supported by significant increase in recruitment demand in 2021 with active job posts for automotive occupations up 83% compared to 2020 and up 16% on 2019.
The decrease in jobs in the past 2 years has significantly changed the next 10 year forecast. Jobs are predicted to fall by 1% a loss of 5,487 jobs, however not all subsectors are predicting a fall in numbers.
Professional bodies are distinctive in that they are dedicated to the advancement of furthering of a profession or occupation and supporting individual members working in that profession. Most concern themselves with one profession (e.g. law or dentistry) or one occupation (e.g. accounting technicians). The IMI is different in that it is dedicated to the advancement of a sector the automotive sector, which covers many different sub sectors and occupations. This makes defining and understanding the related labour market both a challenge and essential.
The UK Automotive Sector Baseline Report 2022 seeks to give an overview of the current automotive labour market. The report gives a view of industry, occupation and job postings throughout the 4 nations and gives us a full, contextualised view of the automotive labour market. The summary report version pulls out some of the key statistics outline the automotive labour market in 2021.
Exclusively for IMI members, a full report which also covers, skills, recruitment trends and forecasts for the future is available.
