Building Digital Skills

Suzanne Kavanagh, SkillsetPublishers Association / UCL 08/12/10

Number of companies

Source: Skillset (2010) Strategic Skills Assessment / ONS Labour Force Survey July 2009-June 2010

Regional distribution of Publishing employers

London, 3180, 27%

East, 1240, 11%

West Midlands, 670, 6%

South East, 2220, 19%

South West, 1090, 9%

Wales, 320, 3%

Scotland, 580, 5%

Northern Ireland, 155, 1%

North East, 180, 2%

Yorkshire & Humber, 555, 5%

North West, 810, 7%

East Midlands, 580, 5%

Number of employees in Publishing

Number of People Working in Publishing

News agencies, 8,100, 5%

Other publishing, 36,800, 21%

Other information service activities n.e.c, 8,900, 5% Book publishing,

31,400, 18%

Directories and mailing lists, 2,600,

1%

Newspaper publishing, 46,900,

26%Journals and

periodicals, 43,600, 24%

Book publishing

Directories and mailing lists

Newspaper publishing

Journals and periodicals

Other publishing

News agencies

Other information serviceactivities n.e.c

Source: Labour Force Survey (April 2009 to March 2010)

Number of employees in Publishing

Employment across Publishing sectors

0

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

70000

Books

Directo

ries &

Mail

ing L

ists

Newspap

ers

Jour

nals &

Per

iodic

als

News Age

ncies

Other

Info

rmat

ion S

ervic

es

Other

Pub

lishin

g

2010

2007

Source: Skillset (2010) Strategic Skills Assessment / ONS Labour Force Survey July 2009-June 2010

Occupational groups

Occupational Group 2007 2010 Var +/-

Managers and senior officials 23% 28%

Professional occupations 4% 4%

Associate professional and technical 41% 40%

Administrative and secretarial 12% 11%

Skilled trades occupations 5% 3%

Personal services occupations 0% 0%

Sales and customer service occupations 7% 5%

Process plant and machine operatives 2% 2%

Elementary occupations 6% 6%

Total publishing 100% 100%

Percentage freelance

Percentage Freelance by Sector

05

101520253035404550

All Pub

lishi

ng

Books

Newsp

aper

s

Jour

nals &

Perio

dicals

Oth

er P

ublis

hing

News

Agenc

ies

Direct

ories

& M

ailin

g Li

sts

Oth

er In

fo S

ervice

s

2007

2010

Age of the workforce

Workforce Age

4%

19%

31%

21%

26%

3%

17%

26% 26%28%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

16-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50+

2007

2010

Diversity & equality

Diversity & Equality of Publishing Workforce

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

% Female % BAME % Disability

2007

2010

Qualification Level of the Workforce

Percentage of those with a degree or equivalent

45%

62%

0

32%

50%

41%

50%

0

51%

75%

43%35%

65%

34%

49% 47%

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%

All Pub

lishi

ng

Books

Direct

ories

& M

ailin

g Li

sts

Newsp

aper

s

Jour

nals &

Perio

dicals

Oth

er P

ublis

hing

News

Agenc

y

Oth

er In

fo S

ervice

s

2007

2010

Level of current vacancies

• 2007: 20% employers had vacancies• 2007: 6% of these with hard to fill vacancies• 2010: 13% employers had vacancies• 2010: 36% of these with hard to fill vacancies

Skills shortages – new entrants

General• Distribution, sales &

marketing• Art and design• Technical development

Direct from HE• Sales & marketing (31%)• Creative talent (21%)• Skills using software

packages (17%)• Multi-skilling (16%)

Current skills gaps

Sales and marketing 64%

Technical skills (inc. computer programming, usage and web/internet design/development)

50%

Software packages (inc. Photoshop, Avid, Final Cut Pro etc)

46%

Business skills (inc. specific mention of entrepreneurial skills 17%)

38%

Leadership and management 36%

Future skills needs

Potential Future Skills Gaps

0%5%

10%15%20%25%30%35%40%

Broad skills areas

% e

mp

loye

rs w

ho

id

enti

fied

th

em

Summary

• Increased number of companies• Predominantly London, South East, East • Small number of large employers with large workforces • Large number of SMEs• Shrinking workforce -15%• More managers & senior officials• Fewer skilled trades & sales/customer services• Freelance workforce hit• Ageing workforce: increase in 40-49 & 50+ age groups• Decrease in diversity & gender equality of workforce• Increasing level of degree or equivalent education• Fewer vacancies but increasingly level of harder to fill vacancies

Technical Skills

• Ability to meet industry standards requirements• Maximising opportunities for e-publishing• Innovative, creative marketing using technology• Understanding impact of change on IP rights• Computer programming• Usage and data analysis• Web/internet design and development• Specific software skills

Multi-platform Content Creation

Gaming AnimationInteractive

mediaTVRadio Advertising

Audio planning, production &

editing

Brand management cross platform

Non-linear narrative

Design & storyboard

Video planning, production &

editing

API & App development,

web optimisation

Platform neutral digital publishing(multi-platform content and traditional ‘craft’ skills)

Entrepreneurs & Diagonal Thinking

‘Oscillating effortlessly between logical or rational thinking, and creative or lateral thinking, they are able to analyse a company’s business and then make creative leaps based on their findings.’

Source: IPA http://www.diagonalthinking.co.uk/

Get in touch…

Suzanne Kavanagh

suzannek@skillset.org

@sashers

www.skillset.org/publishing

www.courses.skillset.org

www.skillset.org/standards