There are around 6,560 logistic sector workplaces in the region which comprise 3.5% of all workplaces in the region. Road freight transport companies make up 59% of the sector. The majority of the workplaces are small to medium sized enterprises with 85% of workplaces employing 1-10 people, yet 67% of the workforce is employed in a working environment with 50 or more people.

The logistics sector in the region is one of the largest in the UK. It directly employs 108,200 people, accounting for over 4% of the region’s workforce. When employees working within logistics but related to other sectors are included (for example, post workers, messengers and couriers), then logistics employs around 185,200 people, which represents 8% of all employment in the region.

The region’s logistics’ workforce profile follows:

• 721% are process plant and machine operatives and elementary staff
• 7% of the workforce are self-employed, compared with 14% for the region as a whole
• 13% of the workforce is employed part-time, compared with 27% for the region as a whole
• 23% are women
• 8% are from minority ethnic groups
• 17% of the workforce is 55 years and over, compared with 16% of all sectors in the region. This older age group currently dominates road freight (24%)
• 7% of employees hold an NVQ Level 4 or above, compared with 11% of employees in UK logistics
• 22% of employees in the sector hold below NVQ Level 2 qualifications and 19% hold no qualifications

The region has a greater number of vacancies than the English logistics sector, with over 1 in 5 firms having at least one vacancy. In particular:

• 21% of firms have at least one vacancy
• 13% have at least one vacancy that is hard-to-fill
• 11% have a skills shortage vacancy

The two occupational areas with the hardest to fill vacancies are those for machine operatives and elementary staff (i.e. jobs comprising mainly routine tasks, not normally requiring formal qualifications).

The low number of applicants, generally, was identified by 40% of employers as the main reason for hard-to-fill vacancies, with 31% of employers identifying the lack of applicants with the required skills. Lack of literacy and numeracy skills were identified as the key reasons for skill shortage vacancies.

However, over the past 12 months:

• 35% of employers in the region did not fund or arrange any staff training;
• less than 50% formally assessed staff training needs
• 40% do not have a business plan, training plan or a budget for expenditure
• 12% of employers providing off-the-job training had used a Further Education college
• 6% of employers had any apprentices funded through the Learning and Skills Council

Increase in demand for management roles is predicted. Transport and machine operatives will remain the largest sub-group. There will be a continued increase in demand for administrative, clerical and secretarial positions.

The proportion of women working in the sector is expected to increase by 16% over the next 10 years.

Source: Skills for Logistics - West Midlands 2006