40% of London’s total employment is in business, financial and other services compared to 5% in each of manufacturing and construction.

The ‘business services’ and ‘other services’ sectors that are forecast to provide the vast majority of London’s future employment growth are relatively high skilled as are finance, health and education which are also expected to grow. Over 50% of employees in ‘finance and business services’ and ‘public administration, health and education’ and 40% of employees in ‘other services’ are qualified to level 4 or above. In total, around 43% of jobs in London are filled by employees with level 4 and above qualifications compared to just 30% in the rest of England and Wales.

Londons diverse population demographics meet the labour needs of businesses located in London – with London businesses experiencing fewer significant skills gaps than the rest of the UK.

The reason London’s working age population is more highly qualified than the rest of the UK is due to the dynamism of the London labour market 25
and the fact that London’s working age population is in constant flux, with high inflows and outflows of UK and international migrants – many of whom
are highly skilled.

London’s challenge is not that businesses cannot access high quality staff, but rather that some Londoners are not equipped to compete effectively in the job market. In total, 1.5 million out of a total 5.1 million working age adults in London are without work. Although the economically inactive are by definition not seeking work, some 370,000 state that they would like to work.

People who lack job-related skills or qualifications, or who have poor basic skills (including English language skills) benefit most from basic skills and training that is directly relevant to employers’ needs in the local labour market.

Source: GLA Economics

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