The wider UK labour market is cautious. The Low Pay Commission describes it as 'low hire, low fire', with weaker recruitment but only slight increases in redundancies, and vacancies now sitting below pre-pandemic levels Low Pay Commission Report 2025, GOV.UK. That caution shapes how logistics and supply chain sites plan headcount today.
But cautious does not mean flat. The largest volume increase in vacancies over August to October 2025 came in professional, scientific and technical activities, up by 5,000 ONS – Vacancies and jobs in the UK: November 2025. As sites automate, more of the roles on a distribution centre brief are technical, and that pulls hiring toward exactly the kind of skilled, hands-on people who keep automated kit running.
The shift starts on the factory and warehouse floor. Six in ten manufacturers (59%) cite automation and half (50%) cite wider digitalisation as the trends changing the jobs and skills they need, and 74% expect demand for cognitive and higher-order thinking skills to increase by 2030 Make UK – 2030 Skills: Closing the Gap. Conveyors, sortation systems and robotics all need people to wire, commission and maintain them.
That is where automation electricians come in: skilled electricians who work across control panels, sensors, drives and programmable systems rather than fixed wiring alone. Engineering hiring shows a familiar gap, with entry-level hiring at -19% against senior at -10% GOV.UK - A snapshot of entry-level hiring in the UK, so competition for experienced technical people is real. The talent pool is also largely home-grown: for engineering, the vast majority of new hires come from the resident labour force GOV.UK - Professionals in IT and engineering, which means employers are hiring from the same UK base.
Start with the skills, not the job title. Because so many sites recruit from the resident labour force GOV.UK - Professionals in IT and engineering, you are often competing for the same experienced electricians, so a clear, specific brief wins: name the control systems, the shift pattern and the maintenance responsibilities up front.
When automation electricians and other technical roles land on your brief, we help you fill them fast. We search 15 million candidates, rank a shortlist in under 30 seconds, contact matched people in under a minute and can book an interview in under three minutes, so a hire can complete in days. Our recruitment agent manages recruitment end to end for 8% on a successful hire, with no monthly fee and no upfront cost, through Reed.ai. Ready to build your automation team? Start with us today.
