Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The UK Commission for Employment and Skills' (UKCES) Employer Skills Survey is a biennial UK-wide individual establishment telephone survey, providing the most detailed picture of training, vacancies, skills gaps, and investment in training. The aims are to provide rigorous and robust intelligence on the UK labour market and the market for skills. The survey has two waves, with a mainstage questionnaire of c.91,000 establishments, and a follow-up survey of investment in training of c.13,000 establishments that have conducted training over the previous 12 months. A Secure Access version of the Employer Skills Survey, 2011-2015 is held by the UK Data Archive under SN 7745. Two previous studies, the National Employer Skills Survey, 1999-2009: Secure Access (NESS), covering England only, and the Scottish Employer Skills Survey, 2008-2010: Secure Access, covering Scotland, are held at the Archive under SNs 6705 and 6857 repectively. Both studies are subject to restrictive Secure Access conditions (see the SN 6705 and 6857 catalogue records for full details). The UKCES also conducts the Employer Perspectives Survey (UKCEPS) series (held at the Archive under SN 33466), which began in 2010. The UKCEPS provides a comprehensive examination of employer perspectives on key aspects of the employment, skills and business support systems in the UK. Further information may be found on the UKCES Employer Skills Survey webpage.
The Employer Skills Survey, 2011 harmonised skills surveys from across the four UK nations, following individual surveys undertaken in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. As predecessor surveys used different inclusion criteria for establishments, the 2011 survey had a broad sample frame to accommodate all UK nation requirements. A single unified sample frame was introduced for 2013, and this version of the 2011 study has been reweighted to be comparable with the 2013 data. For the third edition (June 2016) a new version of the Investment in Training file, reweighted to 2015 figures, and accompanying tables, were deposited.
Main Topics:
Establishment characteristics, retention and recruitment, vacancies, demand for skills and skills gaps, hard-to-fill vacancies, workforce development and training, skills utilisation and high performance working, business strategy and structure.
Multi-stage stratified random sample
Telephone interview
