Wholesale industry risks just 9% of vacancies being filled

A new report has found that the wholesale industry is one of the sectors most affected by the current labour shortage.

Business management software firm ECI Software Solutions has compiled The Skills Shortages Report which reveals that the wholesale industry is facing a challenge of finding skilled people to fill currently vacant roles, with a risk of just 9% of roles being filled.

To find out which sectors are facing the worst shortages, ECI Software Solutions looked at 20 industries across the UK and identified five different job positions for each. LinkedIn revealed how many jobs were available for those positions and ECI Software Solutions compared this to the number of people currently searching on Google for those roles.

Currently, the wholesale industry has 54,920 open positions for roles such as wholesale operative, wholesale coordinator and stock controller. But with only 5,400 people searching for the particular vacancies, they are at risk of less than one in 10 roles being filled.

The 10 industries facing the biggest shortage of employees are:

Commenting on the research, Chris Fisher, LBMH operations director EMEA at ECI Software Solutions, said: “Workplaces have significantly evolved and digitalised over recent years and, with the introduction of technology into everyday processes, the skills required to undertake certain roles have drastically changed. This situation is creating both opportunities and challenges for business leaders looking to fill vacant positions, with many also having to evaluate how they are marketing themselves as an organisation.

“That being said, there are still plenty of opportunities to train and upskill existing staff or potentially offer apprenticeships to entice new recruits. It’s clear that some industries may be falling behind in terms of appealing to the right candidates and making a career in the field look appealing. Combatting this starts at a grassroots level – encouraging students to explore the opportunities in these sectors, but also highlighting how most skills are transferable.”