Manufacturing is hiring under pressure. In 2025 there were 55,000 unfilled long-term vacancies across UK manufacturing, costing the economy an estimated £6bn in lost output every year, according to Make UK's Industrial Strategy Skills Commission Report 2025. That gap sits inside a wider market that is cooling.
The picture nationally is what the Low Pay Commission's 2025 report calls 'low hire, low fire': weaker recruitment, only slight rises in redundancies, and vacancies now below pre-pandemic levels. So when a manufacturer does open a role, getting the right person first time matters more than ever.
Skills are the sticking point. Barclays Corporate found that manufacturers rank skills shortages (75%), recruitment (36%) and talent retention (32%) as their top barriers to growth, per Barclays Corporate's 2024 skills shortage research. Servitisation raises the stakes: you're no longer only staffing a production line, you're staffing an ongoing service relationship with the customer.
Servitisation, where a manufacturer sells outcomes and services rather than just a physical product, changes the skills mix. Six in ten manufacturers (59%) cite automation and half (50%) cite wider digitalisation as trends reshaping jobs, while 74% expect demand for cognitive and higher-order thinking skills to increase by 2030, according to Make UK's 2030 Skills report.
That means more roles blending engineering with data, software and customer service: connected-product engineers, data analysts who read machine performance, service and aftercare specialists, and account managers who own long-term contracts. The demand for scientific and technical people is visible in the wider market too. The ONS vacancies bulletin for November 2025 recorded the largest volume increase in vacancies in the professional, scientific and technical activities sector, up by 5,000 in August to October 2025.
AI capability is the next frontier, and skills are the blocker. Over half of manufacturers name skills shortages as the main barrier to AI adoption, and only 2% say AI is widely embedded across their operations, reports Make UK and The Manufacturer's 2026 research. There's also a route in worth watching: apprenticeships rose from 3% of AI hires in 2020 to 19% in 2025, per the DSIT AI Labour Market Survey 2025.
Start by writing the role around outcomes, not just the machine. A servitised business needs people who can keep a product working and a customer happy over years, so blend technical requirements with data literacy and service skills. With 74% of manufacturers expecting demand for cognitive skills to grow by 2030, per Make UK's 2030 Skills report, hire for adaptability as much as for a fixed toolset.
Widen your talent pipeline. Apprenticeships are already carrying more of the load in emerging fields, as the DSIT AI Labour Market Survey 2025 shows, and building your own talent reduces reliance on a thin external market. Given that recruitment ranks among manufacturers' top barriers to growth in Barclays Corporate's 2024 research, a mix of hiring and developing people is the safer bet.
Then move quickly and decisively. In a 'low hire, low fire' market, as the Low Pay Commission's 2025 report describes, good people don't sit on the market for long. A tight brief, a fast process and clear communication protect you from losing the right person to a slow decision.
When you know the shape of the role, the right tool helps you find the person fast. Reed.ai searches a database of 15 million people, ranks a shortlist in under 30 seconds and manages the process end to end, so a servitised role that blends engineering, data and service skills gets in front of the right candidates quickly. Our recruitment agent manages recruitment end to end for 8% on a successful hire, with no monthly fee and no upfront cost. Ready to hire for what your business needs next? Start your search with us today.
