Scottish Employer Skills Survey 2020

25th May 2021

The Chief Statistician today published results from the Scottish Employer Skills Survey 2020.

The Scottish Employer Skills Survey (ESS) 2020 is a large-scale telephone survey of 3,497 employers in Scotland.

Fieldwork was undertaken between 20 October and 22 December 2020.

It provides insight into employers' views on skill shortages, skill gaps and employer led training activity. It also provides new evidence on the skills related impacts of COVID-19 on employers.

Key findings include:

overall, 11% of employers had a vacancy at the time of the survey. This is a decrease from 2017, when 20% of employers reported having a vacancy
almost a quarter, 24%, of establishments with vacancies reported at least one that was hard to fill due to a skill-shortage issue. This equates to 3% of all establishments in Scotland
overall, 12% of employers had any skills gaps within their workforce. This was lower than in 2017 when 16% of employers had skills gaps
in total, 4% of all employees in Scotland were considered to have skills gaps
one third of establishments, 33%, had staff whose skills and qualifications were under-used. In total, 8% of employees were under-utilised in their role
overall, 59% of employers had provided some form of training to staff in the 12 months preceding the survey
just over a quarter, 26%, of employers said that COVID-19 had an impact on their training plans
just over three-quarters, 76%, of employers had accessed some form of government-backed support in response to the COVID-19 pandemic
in total, nearly two-thirds, 65%, of employers had furloughed at least one member of staff in response to the pandemic
one-in-eight employers, 12%, had either made staff redundant or were in the process of doing so at the time of the interview
nearly all employers, 96%, had changed their working practices in some way in response to the pandemic