More employers find it difficult to recruit trained staff

This year’s Labour Market Tendency Survey shows that more and more employers find difficulty recruiting staff with the right training. In 41 of 72 educational groups, a majority of employers say there is a shortage of job seekers. Compared with the 2016 Labour Market Tendency Survey, seven additional educational groups showed a shortage of job seekers.

Shortage of teachers

Employers report a continued shortage of job seekers who have a teacher’s education. The largest shortage is among newly certified teachers who are trained to teach the upper grades of compulsory school, especially within mathematics and natural science, where 96 percent of the employers report recruiting difficulties. There is also a large shortage of preschool teachers, leisure time pedagogue workers, special education teachers and special needs teachers.

Continued shortage of healthcare workers

In the health and medical care employers report shortages of trained workers, including both first-level nurses and specialist nurses. Employers also state that there are too few job seekers with an upper secondary education in health and social care. More than three of four employers find it difficult to recruit pharmacists. Within dental care there is a shortage of dentists and dental hygienists.

Overall shortage of applicants with upper secondary education

The shortage of job seekers whose highest level of education is at the upper secondary level has increased since last year. For 12 of 13 of such educational groups, employers report a shortage of newly graduates. An especially large shortage was reported for persons trained in vehicle repair and maintenance, whom 95 percent of employers find difficult to recruit. There is also a shortage of job seekers with a secondary education in natural resource use, transport (drivers), building and construction, automation and restaurant management training.

Decreased number of applicants

In recent years, the availability of new graduates from many several social and natural science programmes has been good. However, this year’s Labour Market Tendency Survey shows that in only two of 72 educational groups do employers report a good supply of applicants: journalism and biology. In addition, the majority of employers report that the supply of educated economists, social scientists and lawyers has now become more balanced.

Increased need for technology workers

Among employers who report that they will increase recruitment over the next three years, many operate within the technology and manufacturing sectors. Among these firms, the educational groups they will recruit most include computer programmers and system analysts, masters-level electrical, data technicians and automation engineers, and bachelors-level construction engineers.

The results for the Labour Market Tendency Survey are published in the Statistical Database. Time series including margins of error from 2005 to 2017 for all 72 educational programmes are presented.

The results will also be published in a folder, Arbetskraftsbarometern 2017 – Vilka utbildningar ger jobb, 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.

Labour Market Tendency Survey 2017 

2017-12-11 at 09:30.