Major research launched by Skillset has revealed gaping skills gaps and shortages in the rapidly changing media landscape.
It is predicted that the Creative Industries will grow at twice the rate of the rest of the economy, and creative media is pivotal to this. Skillset’s Strategic Skills Assessment for the Creative Media Industries, (which can be dowloaded on the right hand side of this page) in the UK warns we must have the right people in place to make this reality.
One in two companies in the Creative Media Industries report skills gaps as we move out of recession and look to the future, it reveals.
The first ever National Strategic Skills Audit, also released today by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES), draws on Skillset’s in-depth research.
Skillset’s report says there is an 'oversupply' in many general creative media roles, but serious skills shortages in areas like digital technology and multiplatform capability, broadcast engineering, business and commercial know-how, visual effects and craft-orientated jobs.
Graduates now make up 73 per cent of the workforce, compared to 66 per cent in 2003. And more than half (53 per cent) of all degrees held are media related. Yet, overall, the proportion of people with relevant technical or vocational qualifications is low at seven per cent.
One in four employers say more training is needed in multiplatform content and new and digital technology and one in 10 argue that greater management and leadership skills are a priority, particularly to drive their business to take advantage of multiplatform opportunities.
Skillset research also reveals that one in two people in the creative media feel they need training, yet nine in ten reported barriers and obstacles to getting this - including fees being too high (40 per cent) and employers being unwilling to pay for training (34 per cent).
Some parts of the creative media have also experienced a worrying fall in numbers of women and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic workers, as well as an increase in people leaving in their thirties and forties.
Skillset chief executive Dinah Caine said: “Our in-depth analysis highlights the serious challenges ahead for creative media as we emerge out of recession. We know, for example, that the industry is routinely losing highly skilled professionals. It is also likely that demand for the highly skilled freelance labour pool will increase. It is vital that the industry adapts quickly and invests now to be in the best position to manage rapid change.”
Full implications of the recession on the Creative Media Industries are set to be captured in Skillset’s Creative Media Workforce Survey 2010 and Employers Survey 2010. For more information visit www.skillset.org/ssa.
