U.K. tech employment remains strong, new report finds

The United Kingdom is expected to add nearly 15,000 technology-related jobs this year, according to a new report released by the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), the nonprofit association for the information technology (IT) industry and workforce.

CompTIA’s “State of the Tech Workforce U.K.’’ reports that organisations employed approximately 1.98m tech workers in 2021. Job growth was slower than expected as the U.K. continued to navigate through the widespread economic impact of the pandemic, but the tech industry avoided the job losses that affected many other industry sectors in the region.

Graham Hunter, executive vice president at CompTIA said: “The tech industry accounts for 5.5 per cent of the U.K. economy, or £82.6bn. Since 2016, tech employment increased by an estimated 62,140 new jobs or about 10,356 new jobs each year. “The tech sector in the U.K. is strong and growing stronger each year,” said Graham Hunter, executive vice president at CompTIA.

“The evidence is clear: A well-trained and certified tech workforce makes a significant impact on the nation’s economy. And businesses of all sorts will need more skilled workers if we are going to maintain the growth resulting from the ongoing digital transformation efforts that accelerated during the pandemic.”

Nearly 20 per cent of all employer tech job postings in 2021 were for positions in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, automation, blockchain and internet of things, or jobs requiring skills in those areas.

Most tech workers (591,335 employees) are tied to employers in IT consultancy and services, such as managed services providers (MSPs). Other industry sectors that are well represented include telecom, data processing and web portals (269,336); software and custom development (232,965); and tech manufacturing (109,868).

There are 188,812 tech firms with payrolls across the UK with 44,831 tech business establishments in London. Other markets with strong tech sectors include Manchester (6,408 tech companies), Bristol (3,847) and Birmingham (3,129).

Northern Ireland is projected to see the largest percentage increase in net tech employment this year, with Scotland and England following and with tech employment expected to remain steady in Wales. Other data points in the report illustrate the strength of the UK tech sector. For example:

The top four metropolitan areas (London, Manchester, Bristol and Glasgow) are home to more than 572,500 tech industry and tech occupation workers, or about 1 in 3 tech workers in the region. Birmingham saw the highest increase in net tech employment year over year.

Six metropolitan areas (Edinburgh, London, Bristol, Leeds, Glasgow and Nottingham) have a higher concentration of tech workers than the national benchmark of 6.3 per cent.

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