Scottish Employer Perspectives Survey 2019

An Official Statistics Publication for Scotland.

Scotland’s Chief Statistician today published statistics on Scottish Employer Perspectives Survey 2019.

The Scottish Employer Perspectives Survey (EPS) 2019 is a large-scale telephone survey of 2,652 employers in Scotland.

It provides labour market information on how employers engage with the skills system in Scotland, including: 

• their recruitment of new staff
• their perceptions of new recruits (including young people and education leavers) 
• their engagement with training providers
• their offering of work placements and apprenticeships

Key findings include:

• 48% of employers have had at least one vacancy in the previous 12 months
• 30% of employers had recruited an employee in their first job directly from education. This is a decrease from 32% in 2016
• The majority of employers find their education leavers to be ‘well’ or ‘very well’ prepared for work
       o 58% for school leavers (decrease from 65% in 2016)
       o 74% for college leavers (decrease from 80% in 2016)
       o 78% for university leavers (decrease from 84% in 2016)
• 36% of employers provided any type of work placement in the last 12 months. This is a decrease from 39% in 2016. The main barriers cited for not offering work placements were structural (68%), i.e. had no suitable roles (38%) or lacked the time and resources to do so (20%)
• 70% of employers provided training to their staff in the preceding year. This is a decrease from 73% in 2016. 31% of employers have arranged or funded training designed to lead to a recognised vocational qualification in the last 12 months (an increase from 26% in 2016)
• 16% of employers offered apprenticeships in 2019 (an increase from 15% in 2016)
• 51% of employers who have experienced a vacancy collected information to monitor the diversity of applicants. 82% of employers with a vacancy could not identify any specific action they have taken to attract and encourage a diverse range of applicants

Background

This is an Official Statistics publication. Official statistics are produced by professionally independent statistical staff – more information on the standards of official statistics in Scotland can be accessed on the Scottish Government website.

The full Official Statistics publication can be accessed at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-employer-perspectives-survey-eps-2019-official-statistics-publication/

Additional information on Education Maintenance Allowances in Scotland can be found at: http://www.emascotland.com

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