Business leaders in creative fields weigh in on upcoming job-related training programs: 2025 Prospective
The latest State of the Nations Research Report, released by Creative PEC, sheds light on significant challenges and potential solutions for the UK's creative industries regarding age diversity, recruitment, and training.
Age Diversity
The report underscores the need for greater inclusivity in the creative industries, particularly in terms of age. The sector struggles to attract and retain talent across various age groups, although specific age-related statistics are not detailed in the report's summaries. The emphasis is on ensuring education and workforce development cater to a broad demographic to sustain growth.
Recruitment
A notable skills gap is threatening the sector’s growth ambitions. Creative businesses face shortages in both technical and interpersonal/employability skills. The report indicates that creative industries are less likely to recruit young people (under 25) compared to other sectors (57% vs 64%).
Training and Skills Development
The sector calls for reform and investment in education and vocational pathways to close skills gaps and support ongoing workforce development. Universities like Chester are actively aligning curricula with industry needs, focusing on future-facing skills, including digital technologies, interpersonal, entrepreneurial, and technical skills. Collaboration with employers ensures that graduates are job-ready.
Broader Context
These findings sit within a larger policy framework where UK government strategies are focused on industrial and creative sector growth through education, investment, and regional equity initiatives. However, the sector is impacted by reductions in public funding for arts and culture, which threatens the talent pipeline and innovation capacity that underpin recruitment and training success.
Apprenticeships
The report also addresses the topic of apprenticeships, revealing that awareness of apprenticeships is nearly universal, but detailed understanding is limited among creative industries employers. The report also highlights that creative industries employers are less likely to use apprenticeships in the future compared to the wider economy.
Conclusion
In summary, the report underscores the urgent need for inclusive recruitment, age diversity awareness, and enhanced, industry-responsive training to address the widening skills gap and sustain the UK's creative industries’ growth and innovation capacity. The report, titled "Creative industries employers' perspectives on skills initiatives: 2025," was edited, proofread, and supported by the Creative PEC policy, operations, and communications teams.
[1] Giles, L. and Carey, H. (2025) Creative industries employers' perspectives on skills initiatives: 2025. Creative PEC. doi: 10.5281/zenodo.15730438. [2] The report was designed by Mike Green/Green Doe Ltd. [3] Lesley Giles and Heather Carey are the directors of Work Advance, the organisation behind the report.
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