Skills for the Future: Demand for and Supply of High-Skilled Labour Across England

This study maps employer demand for higher-level qualifications (at Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF) Level 4 and above), the supply of residents with these qualifications, and the resulting demand-supply gaps across England’s 38 Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) areas (as defined in 2023). It combines online vacancy data and official labour market sources to examine patterns of higher-level skills demand, supply and mismatches across places. By combining spatial analysis, correlation evidence and econometric modelling, the analysis identifies structural factors associated with local demand-supply gaps and highlights the importance of place-based skills policies.

“High-level skills mismatches differ significantly by place. Large demand-supply gaps appear in both dynamic areas, such as Cambridgeshire and Peterborough and Greater Manchester, and in some structurally weaker economies. A large gap does not always signal labour market failure, and a small gap does not always signal success. Context matters.”

Dr Konstantinos Kollydas

The findings show that high-level skills mismatches differ significantly by area and that policy responses should reflect local differences in demand, supply and labour market structure. LSIPs provide a framework to coordinate these actions locally. In high-demand areas, there is a need to expand higher-level pathways and graduate retention. In low-demand and low-supply areas, skills policy could connect more closely with local growth strategies, business support and sector development.

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Meet the Author

Dr Kostas Kollydas is a Research Fellow who joined City-REDI in 2021. He is an applied economist, and his research fields lie broadly in skills, labour economics and the economics of education. He has strong experience using large UK survey and administrative datasets, including the Annual Population Survey, the Employer Skills Survey and Graduate Outcomes. Kostas was seconded to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) between 2022 and 2023, where he led the analysis for the R&D Workforce and Skills project. At City-REDI, he has worked on projects covering graduate retention and attraction, local labour supply, and skills for innovation. He currently leads the Skills theme within the Local Policy Innovation Partnership Hub.

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Publications

Development Corporations

This report provides a timely stocktake of how development corporations have been used across the UK, the emerging pipeline of new proposals, and the conditions likely to determine their future success. It reviews the experience of previous New Town Development Corporations, Urban Development Corporations and Mayoral Development Corporations, and considers

Building Civic Capability: A Life Course Framework for Place

Building Civic Capability: A Life Course Framework for Place argues that civic capability should be understood as strategic civic infrastructure rather than isolated participation initiatives. Drawing on theories of human development, democratic innovation, and public value, the paper introduces a practical life-course framework that helps places intentionally cultivate and accumulate

Addressing Local Economic Disparities: Learning From Policy Failure in the UK

This report examines why, after more than four decades of national policy, the UK remains one of the most interregionally unequal countries in the industrialised world. Drawing on the academic discipline of policy failure, it applies a common framework to eight major UK instruments – from the Regional Development Agencies