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Theme 4

Science and engineering workforce

Policy questions and key messages

  1. Is the UK producing enough scientists and engineers?
  2. Are there skills shortages in the UK job market?
  3. How does this compare with other countries?

Delivering the UK’s Industrial Strategy will require a rapid expansion and better alignment of post-secondary education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines to meet the future demand for qualified professionals:

  • The eight priority sectors (IS-8) identified in the 2025 UK Industrial Strategy already rely on graduates for 64% of their workforce, compared with 52% across total UK employment.
  • Between 2025 and 2030, around 82% of new jobs in priority occupations will require post-secondary education.
  • Despite strong overall STEM output, the UK lags behind its international peers in terms of engineering, manufacturing, and construction graduates.

The UK graduate labour market is characterised by strong wage returns for STEM disciplines, but also by skills imbalances and persistent gender pay gaps:

  • In 2024, 25% of UK adults aged 25–64 with tertiary education held a degree in STEM disciplines, similar to the OECD average (26%) but below countries such as Germany (34%) and Switzerland (30%).
  • The UK was among the OECD countries with the highest wage premiums for STEM graduates in 2023, with workers holding a STEM degree earning 18% more than the average worker, comparable to the USA (20%) and higher than Germany (10%).
  • The average gender pay gap for tertiary-educated women in STEM disciplines was 18% across OECD countries in 2023, while UK women with a STEM degree earn roughly 21% less than men with the same qualification.

Despite easing vacancy levels, the UK labour market faces persistent and structural skills shortages, with employers struggling to recruit suitably qualified workers for priority occupations critical to future growth:

  • In 2024 skills-shortage vacancies (i.e. they are hard to fill because of a lack of relevant skills, experience, or qualifications among applicants) accounted for 27% of all vacancies.
  • In the same year the UK presented a relatively high skills shortage in training and education, medicine knowledge, and scientific knowledge, impacting professions such as teachers, health professionals, and engineers.
  • In 2025, 76% of engineering employers reported difficulties recruiting personnel with the required skills, with specialist sustainability skills most frequently cited as the main challenge.

The UK Industrial Strategy skills need

  • The UK Modern Industrial Strategy, launched in 2025, identifies eight sectors (IS-8) with the highest potential to drive economic growth.
  • In 2025 graduates accounted for an average 64% of employment in the IS-8, against 52% of the total employment in the UK.
  • Skills England estimates that IS-8 sectors will demand an additional 623,000 jobs between 2025 and 2030 in the so-called “priority occupations” – “occupations which are expected to see growth in employment over the next five years; currently face skills shortages; are in high demand; or have high importance to the sector”.[1]
  • Between 2025 and 2030, an average 82% of new jobs in priority occupations will require a post-secondary level of education or above.
  • Achieving the objectives of the UK Industrial Strategy will require close coordination with further education and higher education organisation providers in the UK to ensure the supply of graduates meets future demand.

[1] Source: Skills England (2025). Assessment of priority skills to 2030.

Graduates in STEM and health disciplines

  • In 2023, 41.3% of new graduates with a Bachelor’s degree in the UK were from a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) or health discipline, a share similar to that in the USA (41.7%) and Germany (41.4%).
  • This figure was above the OECD average (39.4%) but below that of countries such as Korea (48.8%) and China (46.6%).
  • The share of UK Bachelor’s degree graduates in engineering, manufacturing, and construction (8.9%) was low relative to both the OECD average (12.6%) and countries such as China (33.2%), Germany (24.7%), Korea (20.8%), Mexico (18.7%), and Japan (16.3%).
  • In 2023 the UK produced around 53,000 engineering, manufacturing, and construction graduates,[1] while Skills England estimates that there will be a demand for approximately 180,000 qualified workers in these priority occupations between 2025 and 2030.[2]
  • Demand for engineering skills will continue to be strong,[3] suggesting the need to both increase the number of graduates in this field and align the skills offer with employer demand.

[1] Source: OECD (2025). Education at a Glance 2025 database.
[2] Source: Skills England (2025). Assessment of priority skills to 2030.
[3] Source: National Engineering Policy Centre (2025). Engineers 2030.

Field of study among tertiary-educated adults

  • The UK has one of the most highly educated workforces in the world. In 2023, 53% of adults aged 25–64 held a tertiary education qualification, well above the OECD average of 41%.[1]
  • In 2024, when comparing the field of study of tertiary-educated adults in the UK with the OECD average, the UK showed a broadly similar distribution in STEM (25% in the UK versus 26% in the OECD) and in business, administration, and law (26% versus 24%).
  • But the UK has a much smaller share of tertiary-educated adults in the area of education than the OECD average (5% versus 11%), while it has a much larger share in “other fields” (13% versus 8%).
  • By contrast, countries with a relatively high contribution of manufacturing to GDP, such as Germany and Switzerland, have a higher share of tertiary-educated adults in STEM disciplines than both the OECD average and the UK.

[1] Source: OECD (2025). Population with tertiary education indicator.

Relative earnings of tertiary-educated adults

  • The UK is among the countries with the highest wage premium for graduates in STEM disciplines, as measured by the percentage difference in earnings of a STEM graduate from the average earnings.
  • In 2023 a UK worker with a STEM degree earned 18% more than the average worker, a premium similar to that in the USA (20%) and higher than Germany (10%) and Switzerland (0%).
  • Degrees in business, administration, and law also offered a relatively high wage premium: 8% in the UK compared with 7% in the USA, 5% in Germany, and 10% in Switzerland.
  • These patterns may reflect sectoral wage dynamics. In 2022/23, only 51% of UK engineering and technology graduates entered manufacturing (30%) or professional, scientific, and technical services (21%), with the remainder spread across sectors with different wage profiles. [1]

[1] Source: HESA (2025). Figure 11 – Standard industrial classification of graduates entering work in the UK by subject area of degree.

Gender pay gap by field of study

  • Across all fields of education and in almost every country, a substantial gender pay gap persists, measured as the percentage difference in earnings between women and men within the same field of study.
  • In the UK, STEM disciplines had the largest gender pay gap relative to the rest of the adult population: women with a STEM degree earned about 21% less than men with the same qualification.
  • Across the countries in the OECD sample, the average gender pay gap for tertiary educated women in STEM disciplines is 18%, ranging from 38% in Germany to less than 1% in Costa Rica.
  • For health and welfare disciplines, the gender pay gap ranges between 9% in the UK and 43% in Estonia.
  • The persistent gender pay gap exists partly because women are less likely to receive promotions or significant pay increases, more likely to take career breaks for childcare, and often choose more flexible but lower-paid roles to balance family responsibilities.[1]

[1] Source: OECD (2025). Education at a Glance 2025 database.

Skills needs

  • At the end of 2025, there were 734,000 job vacancies in the UK, below the peak reached in March–May 2022 (1.3 million vacancies).[1]
  • Half of all job vacancies were concentrated in four sectors: human health and social work activities (16%); wholesale and retail trade, including the repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (13%); professional, scientific, and technical activities (10%); and accommodation and food service activities (10%).[1]
  • According to the UK Employer skills survey 2024, skills-shortage vacancies accounted for 27% of all vacancies. These were roles that were hard to fill in 2024 because of a “lack of relevant skills, experience, or qualifications among applicants”.[2]
  • In 2024, compared to the OECD average, the UK had a relatively high shortage in the following skills (and associated professions using those skills):
    • Training and education (i.e. teaching professionals)
    • Medicine knowledge (i.e. health professionals, personal care workers)
    • Scientific knowledge (i.e. science and engineering professionals).

[1] Source: ONS (2026). VACS02: Vacancies by industry.
[2] Source: Department for Education (2025). Employer skills survey 2024.

Missing skills in the UK engineering sector

  • Skills England identifies engineering professions as “priority occupations” expected to experience sustained growth between 2025 and 2030. These professions include manufacturing production managers and directors, civil engineers, mechanical engineers, electrical and electronics engineers, and aerospace engineers.[1]
  • Survey data from employers recruiting for engineering roles shows that in 2025 76% reported difficulties recruiting personnel with the required skills. Specialist sustainability skills were the most frequently cited challenge (30%), followed by the ability to solve complex problems (27%) and innovative thinking (27%).[2]

[1] Source: Skills England (2025). Assessment of priority skills to 2030.
[2] Source: The Institution of Engineering and Technology (2025). UK Engineering and Technology Skills.