Britain’s Skills Gap Map: Best Places in the UK to Find Work

The North-West follows London in a new study of job vacancies for 18 of the UK Visa Bureau’s most in-demand job industries

• More demand for Engineers and Nurses in the North-West than any other region
• Demand for finance sector workers in London 55% higher than national average
• Secondary Teachers experiencing highest demand in the South-West

Across several different industries, research has found that the North-West of England is experiencing the highest demand for key jobs outside of the capital. Comparison service SmallBusinessPrices.co.uk have studied 18 of the UK Visa Bureau’s most sought after occupations to find where the majority of skills gaps are found.

From jobs ranging across healthcare, financial and manufacturing it is London that comes out on top overall, only marginally above the North-West and Wales.

A few of the key findings include:

• London Calling – In terms of job vacancies across industries, London ranks well above the national average, with 50% more jobs in finance and secondary teaching than the norm
• Go (North) West – A close contender for top spot is the North-West. Investment in many cities see it rank highest in demand for engineers, nurses and social workers.
• Home Nations – Wales outranks Northern Ireland and Scotland in our research, with a high number of vacancies in dentistry, welding and the food industry.

In our study the West Midlands ranks higher than any southern region bar London, looking at other sectors such as software, buying and graphic design.

See how different regions and industries compare here:

Methodology: We took 18 of the most in demand sectors from the UK Visa Bureau’s ‘UK Shortage Occupations List’. We then took both an average demand from online job sites, and a region specific average to create a person per vacancy.