Work Skills in Scotland report

Since 2002, Futureskills Scotland has undertaken 25,000 interviews with Scottish employers.  This has provided robust evidence on the views of Scottish employers on skills, recruitment and training issues.  By contributing to the Work Skills in Britain Survey, Futureskills Scotland has complemented this evidence with workers’ views on skills, recruitment and training.

The Work Skills in Britain Survey is a UK-wide survey which gathers workers’ views on the skills they use at work. It provides evidence on the skills and qualifications required to get and do jobs, the use of computing and other generic skills, the extent of job autonomy given to employees and workers' experiences and attitudes towards training and learning at work. 

Independent analysis of this survey undertaken by Professor Alan Felstead and Professor Francis Green highlights Scotland’s success in increasing the proportion of its workforce which is highly-qualified.  The demand for highly-skilled and highly-qualified workers in Scotland has also been rising.  However, this is not at as fast a pace as the supply of such workers.

The polarisation of jobs also remains an issue.  Many jobs in Scotland require highly qualified workers.  At the same time, a large proportion of jobs require no qualifications on entry.  Analysis of the length of training times for jobs and the time taken to learn to do jobs well shows a similar polarisation. 

Most Scottish workers receive training, often initiated by their employer.  Such workers see the benefits of this training in keeping up-to-date and improving the way they work.  However, about one-third of workers do not receive training – and this seems to have little impact on their ability to do their job or own their career prospects. 

The Work Skills in Britain Survey is a rich source of information on the skills used in the workplace.  Futureskills Scotland has commissioned a series of independent analyses to look in more detail at some of the findings from the Survey.  The reports commissioned include detailed research into:

• the extent, determinants and consequences of differences in the qualifications required to get and do jobs; and
• the effect of employment composition on the utilisation of skills in Scotland and the rest of the UK. 

These reports will be published later in 2008.

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Summary Report (PDF 1,125Kb) Full Report (PDF 1,064Kb) The reports are presented as Adobe Acrobat PDF files. You may acquire Acrobat Reader to view these files. This software is free.