Demand for skilled people is high and supply is tight. In 2025 there were 55,000 unfilled long-term vacancies in UK manufacturing, costing the economy £6bn in lost output every year, according to Make UK's Industrial Strategy Skills Commission Report 2025. Employers feel it most keenly at the point of growth.
The barriers are clear. Manufacturers rank skills shortages (75%), recruitment (36%) and talent retention (32%) as their top obstacles to growth, Barclays Corporate reports. For a sector like printed electronics, where processes are new and specialists are scarce, those pressures land even harder.
New production methods reshape what employers look for. Six in ten (59%) manufacturers cite automation and half (50%) cite wider digitalisation as the trends changing jobs and skills needs, and 74% expect demand for cognitive and meta-cognitive skills to increase by 2030, Make UK's 2030 Skills report finds. In practice that means process technicians, materials and ink specialists, and line operators who can run and adjust digital kit.
The growth runway is real. The UK ranks just 24th in global robotics density, and targeted innovation and digital investment could add £150 billion to the UK's GDP by 2035, Make UK's Making it Smarter report notes. The UK used only 101 robots per 10,000 workers in 2020, which the Smart Machines Strategy 2035 reports as substantially behind international peers. More automation now points to more skilled production and maintenance roles next.
Firms are responding by growing their own talent too. 40% of manufacturers are looking to upskill their existing workforce, specifically for redeployment as a result of automation and digitalisation, the Make UK Executive Survey 2026 shows, with the figure rising at firms of more than 1,000 employees.
Start by hiring for learning speed, not just a finished skill set. Over 50% of manufacturers cite skills shortages as the main barrier to AI adoption, and only 2% say AI is widely embedded across their operations, The Manufacturer reports from Make UK data. When specialists are rare, the people who adapt fastest often add the most value.
We search 15 million candidates to surface people who fit your production roles, then rank a shortlist and handle the process end to end, from first contact to a booked interview. Our recruitment agent manages recruitment end to end for 8% on a successful hire, with no monthly fee and no upfront cost. Tell Reed.ai the role today and we'll start the search.
