The STEM Skills Gap — What UK Companies Need to Do Differently

The UK has a STEM problem. And it isn't new.

For over 15 years, businesses across engineering, technology, healthcare, and manufacturing have been sounding the alarm about a shortage of skilled workers. Yet the gap hasn't closed. If anything, it's widening.

Skills shortages across STEM are estimated to cost the UK economy £1.5 billion a year — in recruitment costs, temporary staffing, delayed projects, and lost productivity. With approximately 734,000 vacancies recorded in Q4 2025 and 76% of employers reporting difficulty filling roles, the scale of the challenge is hard to ignore.

So why, after a decade and a half of conversations about fixing this, are we still here? And more importantly, what can companies do differently?

The pipeline problem nobody wants to talk about

Here's an uncomfortable truth: the STEM skills gap isn't just a supply problem. It's partly a demand problem — in the sense that too many companies are fishing in the same small pool rather than helping to fill a bigger one.

Most STEM employers recruit from the same universities, the same graduate schemes, the same familiar routes. And then they wonder why they're competing for the same limited number of people.

Research shows that only 24% of students on STEM courses in England were in STEM occupations six months after graduation. Think about that. Nearly three quarters of STEM graduates either aren't entering STEM roles, can't find them, or don't know how to access them. That's not a small leak in the pipeline — that's a structural failure.

At the same time, only 41.8% of young people from lower socio-economic backgrounds say they would consider a STEM career — compared to significantly higher rates among their more affluent peers. There are huge numbers of capable, motivated people who never even consider STEM as an option for them. Not because they can't do it. Because nobody showed them the door.

The pool of potential STEM talent is far bigger than the pool currently being recruited from. The gap isn't just about training more people — it's about reaching the ones already out there.

Why traditional recruitment keeps failing

49% of engineering and technology businesses report difficulties with recruitment because of skills shortages. But a lot of those difficulties are self-inflicted.

Companies post job adverts on the same platforms, with the same requirements, aimed at the same candidate profiles. They rely on degree requirements that may not actually reflect what the role needs. They under-invest in employer brand, assume people have heard of them, and then express frustration when applications are thin or low quality.

The bridge between education and employment simply isn't being made clear or accessible to students — and most companies are waiting for someone else to build it.

Meanwhile, digital skills shortages alone put an estimated 380,000 jobs at risk by 2030. The problem isn't going away by doing the same things more loudly.

What actually needs to change

1. Stop waiting for candidates to find you

If your company has no presence in the spaces where young people are making career decisions — schools, colleges, social media, careers platforms — you don't exist to them. It really is that simple.

Young people, especially those from non-traditional backgrounds, don't know your company name. They haven't been told your industry is for them. They're not going to magically end up on your careers page.

The companies making inroads into the talent shortage are the ones being visible early — not just at graduate level, but at school and college stage, when attitudes toward STEM and career choices are still forming.

2. Broaden what "qualified" actually means

A lot of STEM roles that require a degree don't actually need one. The qualification requirement is a habit, not a necessity.

Apprenticeships, vocational routes, bootcamps, and online degrees have produced genuinely skilled people who don't fit the traditional profile. Some of the best talent in tech, engineering, and data right now came through non-traditional routes.

Companies that expand their definition of what a viable candidate looks like will immediately access a wider pool — including motivated career changers, people who studied later in life, and those who developed skills outside formal education.

3. Invest in early careers, not just immediate hiring

Hiring is reactive. Building a pipeline is proactive.

The companies that are best placed for the next decade are the ones investing now in being known and valued by people who are still in education — partnering with schools and colleges, creating work experience opportunities, sponsoring programmes that introduce young people to what working in STEM actually looks like from the inside.

This takes longer than posting a job advert. It also works far better.

4. Take employer brand seriously

62% of employers believe the skills shortage is having a significant impact on their business, and 68% believe it is set to worsen over the next few years. Yet relatively few are investing in the thing that most directly affects whether candidates choose them over a competitor: how they're perceived.

Employer brand — what it actually feels like to work somewhere, communicated authentically — is the biggest differentiator in a tight talent market. It can't be faked, and it can't be rushed. But companies that invest in it consistently win the hiring battles that others keep losing.

5. Think about retention as part of the skills strategy

Hiring solves nothing if people leave quickly. And right now, Gen Z's average early-career job tenure is just 1.1 years.

A lot of companies treat the skills gap as a recruitment problem and ignore the retention problem sitting right alongside it. High turnover in early careers roles means companies are constantly starting again — spending on hiring, onboarding, and training people who leave before they've fully contributed.

Fixing this means investing in development, providing clear growth pathways, and creating environments where young people genuinely want to stay. It costs money. It costs far less than the alternative.

The opportunity hiding in plain sight

The UK currently faces a shortfall of over 173,000 STEM workers. To just keep up with current demands, the UK needs to generate an estimated 59,000 engineers annually.

Those numbers are stark. But they also represent an opportunity.

There are people in this country right now who want to work in STEM. Who have the aptitude, the interest, and the motivation. Who just haven't been reached, haven't been told it's possible for someone like them, or haven't found the right entry point yet.

That is a solvable problem — not through government programmes alone, but through companies making deliberate choices to reach further, hire differently, and invest in the pipeline rather than just consuming it.

The companies that do this won't just fill their vacancies more easily. They'll build workforces that are more motivated, more loyal, and more reflective of the customers and communities they serve.

How STEMlaunch helps

At STEMlaunch, we work with young people at every stage of their STEM journey — helping them discover what's possible, navigate the options available to them, and take their first steps into STEM careers.

For employers, that means access to a genuinely engaged audience of people actively exploring STEM — the career changers, the late starters, the capable people who nobody else is talking to yet.

Whether you're looking to build your early careers pipeline, improve your visibility with emerging STEM talent, or reach candidates your current recruitment process isn't finding — we'd love to have a conversation.

Get in touch at hello@stemlaunch.org or visit our For Partners page to find out more.