Labour Market Tendency Survey 2016:
Increased shortage of social work professionals
This year’s Labour Market Tendency Survey shows that there is a continued shortage of job seekers in many educational groups. Employers state that there is large shortage of both specialised and first-level trained nurses, and teachers. In several fields of education, the staff shortage has increased compared with recent years, which is the case for social work professionals and building professionals.
More employers find it difficult to recruit trained staff
This year’s Labour Market Tendency Survey shows that more and more employers find it difficult to recruit staff with the right training. In 34 of 72 educational groups, a majority of employers say there is a shortage of job seekers. Compared with the 2015 Labour Market Tendency Survey, there is thereby a shortage of job seekers in an additional seven educational groups.
Continued shortage in health and medical care
Employers report a continued shortage of trained workers in the health and medical area. The largest shortage is among specialist nurses, with a focus on anaesthesia, intensive care, surgical care and in other specialist training. There is also a large shortage of district nurses and first-level nurses. More and more employers also find it difficult to recruit social work professionals. Seven of ten employers see a shortage of newly graduated staff and nine of ten report a shortage of staff with occupational experience.
Shortage of teachers
For several years now, there has been a shortage of job seekers in the area of education. Employers report the largest shortage of newly graduated teachers in the upper grades of compulsory school, with a focus on mathematics and natural science, but there is also a large shortage of preschool teachers, leisure time child care workers, special education teachers and special needs teachers. Compulsory school teachers with a focus on languages/social sciences are the teacher group in which the shortage has increased the most in this year’s Labour Market Tendency Survey.
Decreased availability in the social sciences area
In recent years, availability of newly graduated students from several social science programmes has been fairly good, according to employers. However, this year’s Labour Market Tendency Survey shows that there is a declining availability of trained staff. Availability of librarians and personnel- and behavioural scientists, for instance, has now become more balanced. In addition, the majority of employers have made the assessment that they will increase the number of employed psychologists, programmers and systems analysts in a three year perspective.
Increased need for recruitment in the technology area
A large percentage of employers in technology and manufacturing that availability of newly graduated students is insufficient. Seven of ten employers find it difficult to recruit newly graduated students from engineering, industrial technology or vehicle engineering at upper secondary level. Assessments from employers in the technology area also point to an increased need for recruitment in the coming years. In 14 of 22 educational groups, the majority of employers have made the assessment that they will increase the number of employees in the next three years. This refers to, for instance, persons with a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in engineering in structural engineering, a Master of Science in electronics, computer technology and automation and persons with HVAC training.
| Good supply of applicants | Shortage of applicants |
|---|---|
| Newly graduated | Newly graduated |
| Journalism | Compulsory school teaching: higher grades, mathematics, natural science |
| Social science training | Nurses: Other specialist training |
| Biology training | Nurses: Anaesthesia, intensive care, surgical care |
| Good supply of applicants | Shortage of applicants |
|---|---|
| Occupational experience | Occupational experience |
| Journalism | Refrigeration, heating and climate control technology* |
| Social science education | Electrical engineering training* |
| Biology training | Nurses: Other specialist training |
| Decrease up to 2019 | Increase up to 2019 |
|---|---|
| No education | BSc engineers: Structural engineering |
| MSc engineers: Electronics/computer technicians/automation |
|
| HVAC training* |
*Upper secondary education
Definitions and explanations
The Labour Market Tendency Survey 2016 is a survey that provides information on the current labour market situation and its future prospects for the coming years for 72 educational programmes, of which 13 are upper secondary level and 59 are in higher education. Every year in the autumn, roughly 10 000 forms are sent to about 7 500 personnel managers from selected workplaces. Among other things, questions are asked about the supply of applicants (Good supply/Balance/Shortage) and how the current educational programmes are foreseen in a one-year and a three-year perspective (Increase/No change/Decrease).
Publication
This year the results for the Labour Market Tendency Survey are being published in the Statistical Database for the second time. Time series including margins of error from 2005 to 2016 for all 72 educational programmes are presented here. The results will also be published in a folder, which is mainly directed towards pupils and students who will be choosing their training and educational programmes. The folder presents statistics for each programme and summarises the results of the year, together with statistics on wages and salaries and other facts about the programmes.
Next publishing will be
2017-12-08 at 09:30.
Statistical Database
More information is available in the Statistical Database
Feel free to use the facts from this statistical news but remember to state Source: Statistics Sweden.