There are around 6,195 logistic sector workplaces in the region which comprise 3.5% of all workplaces in the region. Road freight transport companies make up 62% of the sector. The majority of the workplaces are small to medium sized enterprises with 96% of workplaces employing 1-10 people, yet 65% of the workforce is employed in a working environment with 50 or more people.

The region directly employs 85,000 people, accounting for over 3.5% 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 157,500 people, which represents 6% of all employment in the region.

The region’s logistics’ workforce profile follows:

• 73% are process plant and machine operatives and elementary staff
• 6% of the workforce are self-employed, compared with 14% for the region as a whole
• 14% of the workforce is employed part-time, compared with 27% for the region as a whole
• 20% are women
• 3% are from minority ethnic groups
• 19% of the workforce is 55 years and over, compared with 15 of all sectors in the region. This older age group currently dominates road freight (21%)
• 8% of employees hold an NVQ Level 4 or above, compared with 11% of employees in UK logistics
• 17% of employees in the sector hold below NVQ Level 2 qualifications and 16% hold no qualifications

The region has fewer vacancies that the English logistics. In particular:

• 12% of firms have at least one vacancy
• 3% have at least one vacancy that is hard-to-fill
• 2% 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).

A low number of applicants with the required skills were identified by 73% of employers as the main reason for hard-to-fill vacancies, with 65% of employers saying that not sufficient people were interested in the types of jobs offered.

However, over the past 12 months:

• 43% of employers in the region did not fund or arrange any staff training;
• 51% formally assessed staff training needs
• 49% do not have a business plan, training plan or a budget for expenditure
• 23% of employers providing off-the-job training had used a Further Education college
• 3% 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 10% over the next 10 years.

Source: Skills for Logistics - Yorkshire and Humber 2006