Green jobs and skills postings
- Availability:
- Not released
- Published by:
- Greater London Authority
- Last updated:
- 08 February 2024
- Topic:
- Not added
- Licence:
- None
Summary
Introduction
This dataset presents online job postings data from Lightcast, which can serve as a useful, albeit imperfect, indicator of the overall demand for green jobs and skills in London.
From the outset, it is important to note that the definitions as to what constitutes a green skill or job title are experimental, and that the data presented is likely to be only a partial representation of the overall demand for green jobs and skills. A short note on the definitions used as well as the limitations of job postings data can be found at the bottom of this page.
For further background information, please also refer to our blog post, which, while using an earlier definition of green skills and job titles, provides useful additional context and insights.
Finally, for broader analyses of online job postings data for London please see here.
Key points
- Over the course of 2023, there were approximately 44,000 unique postings for jobs that required at least 1 green skill, while there were 8,500 postings with specifically green job titles.
- Combining these two metrics together, and excluding double counting, shows that unique postings featuring either a green skill or job title accounted for 46,500 – or 3% – of London’s total job postings in 2023.
- Looking at the longer-term trend, it is clear that demand for both green skills and job titles respectively has grown steadily in recent years and remains well above 2019 pre-pandemic levels. This suggests that, while still relatively small, there is a growing recognition among employers across industries of the importance of sustainable and environmentally friendly practices.
- In the most recent three month period for which data is available - between October and December 2023 - London saw a slight decrease in the number of online postings for both green job titles and jobs requiring green skills, compared to July-September 2023. However, this is likely to be in part the result of the seasonality of recruitment activity.
- The green skills that featured most prevalently in online postings for jobs in London in 2023 included environmental social and corporate governance (ESG), renewable energy, an understanding of net-zero, and water treatment, while a range of sustainability specialists, renewable energy managers and environmental professionals were among the most sought after specific green job titles.
Notes on definitions
Building upon Lightcast’s own working definition of green skills and job titles, GLA Economics has further developed and refined these definitions using Lightcast’s open-source library of job titles and skills taxonomies. Through this process, GLA Economics have identified over 350 job titles with green keywords (e.g. sustainability, renewable energy analysts or solar PV installers) and over 500 specific skills and qualifications related to the green economy and environment more generally.
These categories can help provide insights into the demand for green jobs and skills in London, but they do not offer a complete picture. Some green job titles and skills may not yet have been identified, while other jobs in green priority sectors will have titles which are not so obviously green (e.g. architect), but where expertise in sustainable practices is of growing importance within in the role. GLA Economics’ definition of green skills and job titles remains experimental and is constantly being refined to reflect the evolving nature of the sector.
For enquiries on this analysis or definitions please email Jeff Dwan-O'Reilly.
Notes on data sources
Online job postings are not representative of all job roles, particularly those not widely advertised online. The data captured from online postings is also inconsistent, with varying levels of detail on skills requirements and job locations, and subject to revision. Despite these limitations, online postings data is increasingly being used to complement traditional sources of labour market information due to its granularity and near real-time nature. For more information see: Understanding online job postings data
Data links
This data hasn’t been released by the publisher.
Contact the publisher for more information.
Contact
Freedom of Information (FOI) requests
Contact Greater London Authority regarding this dataset Freedom of information requests for this dataset