OECD Skills Dashboard: Where Do UK Jobs Differ? FE Soundbite 869
Welcome to FE Soundbite Edition 869: 17th October 2026. OECD Skills Dashboard: which jobs are in shortage across the OECD but in surplus in the UK?
This is the weekly e-newsletter and e-journal by FE News: ISSN 2732-4095. We know life is busy, so here’s a snapshot of the latest announcements and epic thought leadership articles from sector influencers and thought leaders across FE and Skills this week on FE News.
Gavin’s Reflective Perspective
Martin Taylor’s article this week got me thinking a bit more deeply. Martin wrote a piece on the impact of AI on early careers in accountancy. Which was timely, as about every second or third conversation I am having recently, in and out of the sector, is asking how much AI impacts entry-level roles now, and how much more it will in the future. Martin had a point: AI can make early careers better and has the opportunity to not replace early-career professionals, but to help them develop faster.
Which is interesting… much of the ‘grunt work’ in professional services, in particular, is going to change, much like how the calculator, then the spreadsheet, removed the need for manual calculations in the world of work… AI will remove much of the grunt work from accountancy, the legal profession, etc. I think what matters is adapting learning, qualifications, and skills to factor in AI-augmented roles (e.g., working with AI, not replacing people), while keeping essential critical thinking… e.g., you need knowledge and understanding to think critically. We are in a time of mass disruption in the world of work, and in the design of new qualifications, from Vocational GCSEs to V Levels, T Levels (which have been around for five years) and the rethinking of apprenticeships. Are we ensuring we are rethinking what the essential critical skills are?
OECD Skills for Jobs Dashboard – Human Cognitive Skills are very much in demand
Interestingly, the OECD has released its Skills for Jobs Dashboard. The team behind the new dashboard highlight that, across OECD countries, some of the most severe shortages are not in highly specialised technical skills, but in transversal skills that matter across almost every occupation, such as active listening, reading comprehension and critical thinking. Social skills, including social perceptiveness and co-ordination, also rank high. As AI reshapes the labour market, these findings underline that human and cognitive skills are still very much in demand. They are also transferable across roles and professions, and you would think across new roles, jobs and industries that haven’t been created yet.
Comparing the OECD Skills for Jobs picture with the UK
Where we look the same
- Health professionals, teaching professionals and health associates are hard to find in both.
- Education, and health and social work, are shortage industries in both. They are the top two in the UK and in the top three across the OECD.
- Verbal and reasoning abilities are the top two shortages in both, followed by attentiveness.
Where it flips
This is the part I found most interesting. Some of the biggest shortages across the OECD are a surplus in the UK.
- ICT professionals are the third hardest occupation to fill across the OECD, even though many people are saying programming roles will no longer be needed. In the UK, they are in surplus.
- Information and communication is the second-biggest industry shortage across the OECD, but the biggest surplus in any UK industry.
- Managers, business and administration professionals, and science and engineering professionals are all in shortage across the OECD and in surplus in the UK.
- Financial services and professional, scientific and technical activities follow the same pattern.
It works the other way too. Elementary workers, cleaners and drivers are in surplus across the OECD, but among the hardest to find in the UK.
What are the hardest to recruit occupations, according to OECD?
Across the OECD, the occupations hardest to recruit for are health professionals, then teaching professionals, then ICT professionals, followed by refuse workers, health associates, and legal, social and cultural professionals. That last group covers librarians, archivists, curators, journalists, authors and artists, as well as lawyers and social workers.
According to the OECD, CEOs are nearly the easiest roles to fill!
At the easy end of the scale, second from the bottom are chief executives and legislators. The very easiest to find are street sales and service workers (or chuggers), which made me laugh. According to the OECD, CEOs are nearly the easiest people to find! (This category isn’t shown on the UK side of the chart.) Will that be even more true when AI, or “super intelligence” as Donald Trump now wants to call it, is trusted to take more and more strategic decisions for organisations? Interesting!
I hope you enjoy FE Soundbite this week!
Epic Exclusives Thought Leadership Articles
Firstly, Colleges will be key to Delivering the Prime Minister’s Youth Offer By Laurence Frewin, Principal and Chief Executive, South Devon College
Secondly, What did Party Conference Season tell us About the Future of Skills? By Charlotte Dignam, Public Affairs Officer at the AELP
Finally, The Impact of AI on Early Careers in the Accountancy Sector By Martin Taylor, CEO of First Intuition
This week, we also had some other Epic Exclusives!
Five years of the Assessment Innovation Fund: AI, Inclusion and Trust Part 2 By Dean Blewitt, Senior Innovation and Investments Manager at NCFE
If the software is intelligent, why do I need to learn this? The question every FE classroom now faces By Vanessa Aradia, Head of Learning & Development at the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers
What’s New in the World of FE?
Reports
Medr’s First Year: One Tertiary System, a Lifetime of Opportunities By Adult Learning Wales
Voices
The Rise of ‘Invisible Cheating’: Why the UK Education System Needs to Rethink Online Exam Security By Dr. James Gupta, CEO and Founder of Synap
The Organisations That Respond Best Under Pressure Usually Started Preparing Before the Pressure Arrived By Mitzi Danielson-Kaslik MICA CG, Risk, Governance & Compliance
By Danny O’Meara, Operations Manager, FE News and