57% of UK employers report skills shortages in 2026, up 3 percentage points from a year earlier, according to The Open University’s survey of 1,500 employers.
76% say economic uncertainty has made hiring or training harder, 43% hired fewer staff over the past year, and 42% expect shortages to worsen.
1 in 5 organisations report lower early-career recruitment, with 42% blaming AI for taking entry-level tasks that once fed talent pipelines.
More than 1 million UK young people are not in education, employment or training; among those surveyed, 68% would upskill for work and 78% would stay with employers offering development.
The report urges employers, educators and policymakers to expand flexible learning and on-the-job training to reconnect excluded young people with long-term workforce needs.
Is AI destroying the UK's entry-level jobs, or is it secretly fueling a boom in Gen Z entrepreneurship?
As UK firms face a crippling skills crisis, why is their investment in training plummeting in critical sectors?
Can upskilling fix a youth job crisis when systemic failures in health and education are the real root causes?
UK Youth NEETs at Record High: Why 1 in 7 Are Out of Work or Education and What Must Change
Overview
The UK is facing a sharp rise in young people not in education, employment, or training (NEETs), with 84,000 16 to 17-year-olds classified as NEETs in early 2026—the highest level since 2012. This increase, up from 67,000 in the previous quarter, is driven by a surge in economically inactive youth, now at 61,000. These trends highlight growing barriers for young people entering the workforce and underline the urgent need for coordinated action to address persistent skills shortages and support youth transitions into education and employment.