The National Skills Academy for Rail (NSAR) has published its Annual Rail Workforce Survey 2023. It shines a light on the clear and looming danger of a skills shortage brought about by an industry-wide higher-than-average age profile, a high predicted volume of people retiring and low numbers of younger entrants into the sector.
The Annual Rail Workforce Survey is collected and compiled by NSAR and is the most complete and accurate representation of the UK’s rail workforce, with this year seeing the highest response rate yet from employers across the sector.
Each year rail organisations contribute over 240,000 individual records which are anonymised and GDPR compliant, providing 95 per cent coverage across the sector including the supply chain.
NSAR has issued a report on the key findings of the survey – Navigating the Skills Shortage: an in-depth look at the UK rail workforce. It provides a clear picture of the industry’s workforce, enabling both public and private sector organisations to better understand how their workforce compares across the industry and how best to plan for the future.
The key insights includes:
- A third of the rail workforce is aged 50 years or older.
- The average age of rail employees is 45 years old.
- 16 per cent of rail employees are women.
- 75,000 people predicted to leave through retirement and other forms of attrition.
- 12 per cent of rail employees are from ethnic minority backgrounds.
- Addressing skills shortages in rail provides the opportunity to generate up to £181 million for the UK economy between now and 2028.
NSAR warns that deficits in certain skills, such as electrification and systems engineering, have created unprecedented wage inflation, which is now driving up costs.
Neil Robertson, CEO at NSAR said: “It’s our pleasure and privilege to gather the annual rail workforce data. We are delighted that 2023 saw the highest response rate from employers across the rail sector and NSAR members.
“I strongly believe that impartial data will drive better decision-making on skills development so that the industry can collectively adopt a culture of positive interventions to meet the requirements of the sector as a whole.”
Employers in the rail sector can use the data to help plan their workforce recruitment strategy, set priorities for training and help an industry-wide reduction in wage inflation that is driving up rail project costs. You can access the report here.
