Growth in Merseyside’s Job Market Highlights Skills Gaps in Key Industry Sectors

Labour market analysis conducted by leading prison education provider Novus has projected that job creation in Merseyside will continue at pace until 2030 creating a widening skills gap in key industries.

The analysis shows that Merseyside experienced an impressive 7.6% growth in jobs between 2018 and 2023, adding 48,127 new jobs, exceeding the national average by 1.2 percentage points. This job creation is expected to continue over the next five years, with an additional 20,576 new jobs forecast to be added to the region’s economy.

High-growth areas include traditional industries such as Hospitality and Catering, Scientific and Technical Activities, Water Supply and Agriculture. There will also be considerable employment opportunities in the Construction sector which ranks high among the region’s fastest-growing sectors and offers strong wage prospects – despite falling below the national average for industry size and number of workers, underscoring an urgent need for workforce development.

New emerging sectors, such as those supporting the government’s push towards Net Zero, will also create new opportunities that will require targeted workforce development. Notably, while Electricity, Gas, Steam and Air Conditioning supply currently ranks low for workforce size, it offers the highest wages per worker across industries, highlighting a future-facing skills gap that could be addressed through training and apprenticeships.

Following this analysis, Novus, which provides education and training in prisons across the North West, has highlighted the need for integrated skills development, including for those currently in custody, to ensure that Merseyside is able to capitalise on the economic opportunities that are projected to be created in the future.

Peter Cox, Managing Director of Novus, commented:

“Merseyside’s job market is expanding at an encouraging pace, presenting significant opportunities for economic prosperity. However, this growth also highlights the need for strategic skills and training planning to ensure that skills development keeps pace with employer demand.”

Cox continued:

“Novus works with people who are in custody and are the furthest from the labour market but have the potential to be rehabilitated by acquiring the skills required to secure stable employment upon completion of their sentence.

“With Merseyside’s labour market requiring a dynamic mix of traditional and new skills over the next five years, we are committed to ensuring that the provision of prison education programmes is aligned to the needs of the regional economy. These programmes not only reduce reoffending but also support offenders to gain skills that will help them meet employer demand.

“This will require integration and collaboration between prison education programmes and local skills improvement plans to ensure that as many employers as possible are able to recruit the skilled workers they will require to drive economic success.”

In a recent survey commissioned by Novus, 55% of voters in the UK said that prisons should focus on rehabilitation more than punishment, with 60% of respondents saying that educating prisoners and developing their skills is a good way to use taxpayers’ money.

However, when told that reoffending costs the economy £18 billion every year according to Ministry of Justice data and that education is proven to reduce reoffending by 7.5 percentage points, support for educating prisoners and developing their skills increased to 68%.

Cox concluded:

“The increase in new roles that Merseyside is expected to add to its economy in the next five years underscores the need for strategic planning to bridge the gap between job creation and workforce readiness. This must include a strategy for connecting those furthest from the jobs market, such as those currently in custody, with the skills that will enable them to secure employment and meet the needs of the economy.

“As the region looks to the future, its ability to equip people with the skills they will need to connect with the job opportunities that will exist will be key to unlocking both the full potential of its labour market and economic growth.”