The 2015 Employer Skills Survey (ESS15) is the third in the series of UK-wide skills surveys run by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES).
The survey gives us a unique insight into the skills issues employers face and the actions they are taking to address them, providing a unique skills perspective alongside other labour market information. There is no other business survey on this scale: our researchers conducted over 91,000 interviews across the UK economy.
Topics covered in the survey include training and staff development, vacancies and skills shortages, employee skill gaps, retention of workforce and underutilisation of skills.
The ESS15 results provide a comprehensive source of data for users:
• Employers can identify how they compare to their sector in their provision of training or own experience of skill deficiency and identify key challenges and opportunities for their sector;
• Individuals and careers advisers can identify sectors and occupations experiencing particular shortages;
• Providers of training and development can use the results to help shape provision to need in their locality or their specialist areas.
Data are available for the UK, England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, as well as Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEP) and Local Education Authority (LEA) areas in England.