The data, which was released by job search engine Aduza for the UK’s Digital Economy Council and Tech Nation, revealed a surge in digital opportunities thanks to greater investment in UK tech.
With tech startups and scaleups set to see a record year of investment, which reached over £13M in the first half of 2021 alone, companies are looking for new employees to grow their business. Nearly 3M people across the UK are now employed in tech. That’s 9% of the total UK workforce.
Throughout the pandemic, the demand for digital soared and created more employment opportunities. The number of advertised jobs across the sector increased by 42% on pre-pandemic levels.
Digital Secretary, Nadine Dorries said that the last year has been a “record-breaking” one for UK tech.
“That means thousands of high-quality jobs for people across the entire country.”
Tech sweeping across the nation
The UK currently has over 40,000 startups and a further 10,000 tech companies competing for digital talent, but Edinburgh is leading the way in terms of opportunities available. 30% of all vacancies in the Scottish capital are in tech.
Preston has also emerged as a tech employment hub, seeing a 53% increase in digital jobs available since 2018 while Cardiff, Edinburgh and Liverpool have all seen an increase of more than 30% in the same period.
The surge in demand for digital skills has also contributed to levelling up across the UK. More vacancies are advertised every month across the east and north west of England, as well as Scotland and Wales. In Northern Ireland, tech jobs now make up 15% of all new vacancies.
Tech Nation’s Head of Insights, Dr George Windsor said hiring for tech roles across is reaching new heights, demonstrating how tech confidence has grown.
“With nearly 3 million people working in the industry already, this is set to increase steadily over the next year.”
Skills in demand
Software engineers in particular are in high demand, while data scientists have also seen a surge in demand for their skills and rise in their salaries, which has increased by over 30% since 2019.
The UK government is now investing in ensuring the workforce is equipped with the necessary skills to bag these roles. A £2.5B National Skills Fund includes the funding needed to launch skills bootcamps. The bootcamps will provide training to potential digital workers across areas such as coding, data science and digital marketing.
High growth means high salaries
Competition for digital talent means employers are now offering higher salaries. The average advertised tech salary, which now stands at around £55K, is now up to 50% higher than the average for all vacancies in the UK. While the average advertised salary for most jobs in the UK fell in 2021, digital salaries soared and they’re still increasing.
The tech sector now offers better-paid roles than other opportunities such as teaching, engineering, logistics, and trade and contribution. Tech currently make up 78% of roles in the salary band £100-150K.
Julia Hawkins, general partner at LocalGlobe, said the investments made and opportunities available in the past few years have contributed to the development of a strong ecosystem.
“There are so many opportunities now to work in tech and to have an impact in this exciting world as this new generation of companies grow and scale into global businesses.”
