In the UK, bakery employment was reported to be more than 90,000 in 2004.  There are approximately 1,785 enterprises in the UK sector.  54% of the workforce is employed full time. 

The industry is increasingly led by retail rather than baking priorities.  The most commonly reported drivers of change are:

• changes in retailing 
• competition
• customer requirements

Employers are finding it difficult to attract young people into the workforce of which only 22% is under 25.  Less than 1% of the workforce is disabled and very few are from minority ethnic groups.  The gender split in the full-time workforce is even, but the part-time workforce is almost entirely female.

25% of the bakery industry report either hard-to-fill or skills-shortage vacancies.  Approximately 60% of employers with vacancies had skill shortage vacancies.  There is a nationwide shortage of skilled bakers and confectioners.  Skills gaps are reported for: craft bakers; initiative and problem solving; retail skills; plus supervisory and management skills.

The significant growth of in-store bakeries and increasing high street opportunities are changing the types of skills needed in the industry.

There are a wide range of N/SVQ based qualifications in the sector.  15% of craft bakers are qualified to Level 3 and 26% had Level 2 qualifications.  40% of proprietors/managers are qualified to Level 3.  5% of other production workers and 4% of sales staff have Level 2 qualifications.

Source: Improve website 2006, Improve Market Assessment 2004 and BTC 2001

For more data and regional figures on the bakery industry go to the Improve website.