Source: Chart provided by GoSkills (2007).  Data from the Labour Force Survey (2006). 

* GoSkills estimate.

Employment levels are projected to grow in the passenger transport sector over the next decade.  16% of UK passenger transport companies reported an increase in employee numbers last year, compared with 8% reporting a decrease.  Across England this growth in employment numbers is expected to be gradual compared to Northern Ireland where there has been much growth and it forecast to continue.  In Scotland employment numbers are not expected to grow.  In Wales levels will continue to fluctuate, but a significant growth in expected over the next decade.

18% of companies reported an increase in their financial turnover last year, compared with 11% reporting a decrease.  Large companies were more likely to show an increase in turnover,   whilst the number of sole traders reporting an increase in turnover was similar to the number reporting a decrease.

It is expected that over the next decade full-time jobs in the sector will be replaced by part-time employment.  Part-time employment is predicted to expand from 9% of employment to 14% over the next 10 years.  These trends are similar to those expected amongst employment covered by Skills for Logistics. 

Around one third of all GoSkills workers are registered as self-employed, and are more likely to be in the taxi and private hire industry.  Self employment will continue to be important in some parts of the industry. 

Source: GoSkills Skills Needs Assessment (stage 1) sector summary 2006a and Working Futures 2006

For information and trend data on employment levels and employment status of the workforce see:

Across Britain there is an estimated 200,500 organisations in the sector.  96% of organisations in the passenger transport sector employ between 1 and 4 people, 3% employ 5-199 and 1% of organisations have over 200 employees.  Wales has only under 10 companies employing more than 200 staff. 

There are significant regional variations:

• over 4% of London companies employ more than 200 staff, which is particularly high proportion 
• the South East and South West have above average numbers of companies employing 10 or fewer staff

26% of the passenger transport industry is based in rural areas.  Across the industries:

• community transport has almost equal proportions of urban and rural companies
• 13% of community transport organisations are in rural areas
• 19% of bus and coach companies are part of the rural passenger transport sector, compared with 15% in urban areas

30% of UK companies whose headquarters was in a rural county had recruitment difficulties compared to 26% for urban based companies.  The main recruitment difficulty for both urban and rural based companies was skill shortages among job applicants.

N.B.  Some caution is required in using this data as it is difficult to count the number of sole traders and, in some cases, large numbers of organisations are unattributed making analysis difficult.

Source: GoSkills Skills Needs Assessment (stage 1) sector summary 2006a

For information on sector company size see:

Within England,  recruitment difficulties are due to applicants lacking the necessary skills, a lack of interest in the sector and a general lack of applicants.  This reflects the experiences of English companies across all sectors.  Welsh companies in the sector also suffer the same recruitment problems as England. 

All industries in the sector face recruitment and retention issues in some form:

• the bus and coach companies report a need for drivers
• the rail industry has a shortage amongst customer service staff
• the aviation industry has difficulties retaining baggage handlers
• the taxi industry report issues in recruiting new drivers

Vacancies in the sector, recorded by Jobcentre Plus, report that:

• in Scotland 2.3% of total Scottish vacancies recorded are in the passenger transport industry
• in England 2.4% of all reported vacancies
• in Wales only 1.9% of job vacancies

In London, the East of England and the South East the proportion of total vacancies in the passenger transport sector is particularly high.  The North East has the lowest proportion of vacancies (5%).

In Wales the number of hard-to-fill vacancies (18%) is high compared with 14% for the nation as a whole.  A high proportion was also found in England where 11% of organisations reported hard-to-fill vacancies compared to 8% for all sectors.  However, in Scotland 2% of employers report hard to fill vacancies compared to 1% for all sectors.

Source: GoSkills Skills Needs Assessment (stage 1) 2006a

The most common skills gaps are for: communication skills; customer handling; and technical and practical skills.  Some key statistics:

• England – 24% of passenger transport companies reported a skill gap, compared with 30% across all sectors.
• Wales – 22% in sector, compared to 19% across the country
• Scotland –15% in sector, 16% overall
• Yorkshire and the Humber has the highest proportion of companies reporting a skill gap (33%), followed by London (26%)
• the other English regions report skill gaps in the range of 17% to 22%

Driving skills as most needed in their current workforce. Almost 3% of sole traders identified driving instruction as a key need, followed by basic IT skills (2%), and driving skills (1.5%).

30% of Scottish companies report professional IT skills as a gap.  General IT skills are an issue reported by 15% of companies in Wales.  In the Northern Ireland wider transport and communication sector there is a need for computer literacy skills (46% of companies).

Skill gaps in numeracy and literacy are higher in the passenger transport sector (24% and 25% respectively for England) than the figure for all sectors (21% and 22%).  In the North West, 56% of companies report gaps in numeracy and 42% in literacy.  The lack of basic IT skills is a particular issue for micro-businesses.

Driving skills are seen as the most significant future need, with 14% of large companies and 8% of micro-businesses reporting it as an issue which will become even more significant in the future.  Customer skills and communication are also seen as emerging needs for the future.

Source: GoSkills Skills Needs Assessment (stage 1) 2006a

There are 4 key issues which drive skills demand in the passenger transport sector, including:

• increasing numbers of passengers – There has been an increase in demand for journeys on passenger transport which leads to an increased demand for qualified drivers and relevant staff.  Bus and rail travel are becoming more popular, but the largest growth in passenger numbers has been in aviation (an increase of 19%).  A key element for all industries is in the sector to have staff with excellent customer service skills.
• legislation and regulation of the sector – This often results in the need to ensure increased safety and meet certain standards of service.  Congestion charging and similar systems have resulted in an increase in the number of passengers.
• technological change – This affects staff both on and off the vehicle and includes changes such as: reliance on computers within the engine and for diagnostic purposes; use of satellite navigation systems; computerised registration systems; and self-check in systems for aviation passengers.  These changes result in the need for staff to continually update their skills.
• competition with other operators – In a highly regulated and competitive sector, companies have to compete for routes, franchises, contracts and airport slots.  In order to compete companies have to provide well trained staff, an excellent service and customer service skills to a high standard.

Source: GoSkills Skills Needs Assessment (stage 1) 2006a