Publishing Skills Council Research update 06/12/10
May 21, 2015
Publishing Skills CouncilResearch update 06/12/10
Number of companies
Source: Skillset (2010) Strategic Skills Assessment / ONS Labour Force Survey July 2009-June 2010
Regional distribution of Publishing employers
London, 3180, 27%
East, 1240, 11%
West Midlands, 670, 6%
South East, 2220, 19%
South West, 1090, 9%
Wales, 320, 3%
Scotland, 580, 5%
Northern Ireland, 155, 1%
North East, 180, 2%
Yorkshire & Humber, 555, 5%
North West, 810, 7%
East Midlands, 580, 5%
Number of employees in Publishing
Number of People Working in Publishing
News agencies, 8,100, 5%
Other publishing, 36,800, 21%
Other information service activities n.e.c, 8,900, 5% Book publishing,
31,400, 18%
Directories and mailing lists, 2,600,
1%
Newspaper publishing, 46,900,
26%Journals and
periodicals, 43,600, 24%
Book publishing
Directories and mailing lists
Newspaper publishing
Journals and periodicals
Other publishing
News agencies
Other information serviceactivities n.e.c
Source: Labour Force Survey (April 2009 to March 2010)
Number of employees in Publishing
Employment across Publishing sectors
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
60000
70000
2010
2007
Source: Skillset (2010) Strategic Skills Assessment / ONS Labour Force Survey July 2009-June 2010
Employment by region and nation
Source: Skillset (2010) Strategic Skills Assessment / ONS Labour Force Survey July 2009-June 2010
Publishing Employment across the UK
London, 63900, 36%
South East, 22700, 13%
South West, 17900, 10%
West Midlands, 8100, 5%
East Midlands, 7600, 4%
Yorks & Humber, 7800, 4%
The East, 19100, 11%
Northern Ireland, 1200, 1%
Wales, 3300, 2%
Scotland, 11500, 6%
North East, 4200, 2%
North West, 11000, 6%
Wales
Scotland
Northern Ireland
London
South East
South West
West Midlands
East Midlands
Yorks & Humber
The East
North West
North East
Occupational groups
Occupational Group 2007 2010 Var +/-
Managers and senior officials 23% 28%
Professional occupations 4% 4%
Associate professional and technical 41% 40%
Administrative and secretarial 12% 11%
Skilled trades occupations 5% 3%
Personal services occupations 0% 0%
Sales and customer service occupations 7% 5%
Process plant and machine operatives 2% 2%
Elementary occupations 6% 6%
Total publishing 100% 100%
Percentage freelance
Percentage Freelance by Sector
05
101520253035404550
All Pub
lishi
ng
Books
Newsp
aper
s
Jour
nals &
Perio
dicals
Oth
er P
ublis
hing
News
Agenc
ies
Direct
ories
& M
ailin
g Li
sts
Oth
er In
fo S
ervice
s
2007
2010
Age of the workforce
Workforce Age
4%
19%
31%
21%
26%
3%
17%
26% 26%28%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
16-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50+
2007
2010
Diversity & equality
Diversity & Equality of Publishing Workforce
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
% Female % BAME % Disability
2007
2010
Qualification Level of the Workforce
Percentage of those with a degree or equivalent
45%
62%
0
32%
50%
41%
50%
0
51%
75%
43%35%
65%
34%
49% 47%
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%
All Pub
lishi
ng
Books
Direct
ories
& M
ailin
g Li
sts
Newsp
aper
s
Jour
nals &
Perio
dicals
Oth
er P
ublis
hing
News
Agenc
y
Oth
er In
fo S
ervice
s
2007
2010
Level of current vacancies
• 2007: 20% employers had vacancies• 2007: 6% of these with hard to fill vacancies• 2010: 13% employers had vacancies• 2010: 36% of these with hard to fill vacancies
Proportion of employers that fund or arrange learning & development
Publishing 45%
Other publishing 50%
Books 41%
Journals & periodicals 41%
Newspapers 40%
Radio 66%
Television 63%
Other content creation 61%
Film 58%
Games design 55%
Facilities 54%
Archives & libraries 52%
Interactive content 49%
Publishing 45%
Animation 44%
Photo-Imaging 30%
Preferred learning & development delivery
External course or seminar 70%
Mentoring or coaching by another staff member 57%
Ad hoc support on-the-job by another staff member 54%
Books and other printed material 44%
In-house learning and development sessions conducted by another staff member 39%
Internet based online learning and development 30%
In-house learning and development sessions using an external contractor 27%
Work placement or work experience posts 23%
Graduate internships 12%
Apprenticeships 5%
General skills shortages (new entrants)
• Distribution, sales and marketing• Art and design• Technical development
Skills shortages direct from HE
• Sales and marketing (31%)• Creative talent (21%)• Skills using software packages
(17%)• Multi-skilling (16%)
• Technical skills – in particular, ability to meet industry standards requirements
• Strategic skills for maximising opportunities for e-publishing
• Developing and implementing innovative, creative marketing using new technology
• Multi-media journalism skills• Understanding the impact of
change on intellectual property rights
Current skills gaps
Sales and marketing 64%
Technical skills (inc. computer programming, usage and web/internet design/development)
50%
Software packages (inc. Photoshop, Avid, Final Cut Pro etc)
46%
Business skills (inc. specific mention of entrepreneurial skills 17%)
38%
Leadership and management 36%
Future skills needs
Potential Future Skills Gaps
0%5%
10%15%20%25%30%35%40%
Broad skills areas
% e
mp
loye
rs w
ho
id
enti
fied
th
em
Summary• Increased number of companies• Still predominantly in London, SE, East but sizeable workforce across UK compared
to CM• Small no. of large employers with large workforces & large no. of SMEs• Shrinking workforce -15%• Number of managers & senior officials increasing; skilled trades & sales/customer
services decreasing• Freelance workforce hit, particularly in News Agencies• Ageing workforce: increase in 40-49 & 50+ age groups• Decrease in diversity & gender equality of workforce• Increasing level of degree or equivalent education• Fewer vacancies but increasingly level of harder to fill vacancies• Less than half of employers fund or arrange learning & development• Employers prefer to use external training/seminars or internal support for learning &
development• Sales, marketing & technical skills shortages continue• Increasing & anticipated future demand for technical, software, multi-media, creativity,
strategy & entrepreneurial skills in the existing workforce