Skills and Employment Surveys

Major series of repeated cross-sectional surveys tracking job quality and skills in Britain

Overview

The Skills and Employment Survey (SES) is a major research programme tracking the evolution of work quality and skills utilisation in Britain. The series consists of eight cross-sectional surveys of workers stretching back almost 40 years, providing unique longitudinal evidence on how job quality, skills demand, and employment experiences have changed over time.

Purpose and Scope

The importance of work features prominently in UK policy discussions about making work pay, providing greater security, treating workers fairly, and creating opportunities. Improving working lives is also at the forefront of policies launched by the devolved governments in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, and in regional authorities in England.

The overarching aim of the SES is to collect robust survey data on the skills and employment experiences of people working in Britain to inform these debates. The survey provides comprehensive data on:

  • Skills utilisation: What skills workers actually use in their jobs and how this has evolved
  • Job quality: Working conditions, autonomy, task discretion, and job security
  • Work intensification: Effort levels, work pressure, and pace of work
  • Training and development: Access to learning opportunities and skills development
  • Pay and rewards: Earnings patterns and their relationship to skills and job characteristics
  • Technology and work: How technological change shapes job content and work organisation

Survey History

The SES series began in 1986 and has been repeated at regular intervals:

  • 1986, 1992, 1997, 2001, 2006, 2012, 2017, 2023

Each wave surveys approximately 3,000-4,000 workers in Britain, providing nationally representative data on the employed population. The survey’s consistent methodology over nearly four decades makes it an invaluable resource for understanding long-term trends in work and skills.

Key Contributions

My work with the SES focuses on:

  • Skills mismatch and underemployment: Examining gaps between workers’ qualifications and the skills their jobs actually require
  • Graduate labour markets: Tracking how university-educated workers fare across different occupations and sectors
  • Technological change: Analysing how automation and digitisation reshape skill requirements
  • Work quality trends: Documenting changes in job autonomy, work intensity, and employment conditions

Policy Impact

SES data has informed major policy reviews and debates on:

  • Industrial strategy and productivity
  • Education and skills policy
  • Employment rights and job quality
  • The future of work and automation

The survey provides the empirical foundation for evidence-based policy discussions about making work better for British workers.

Data Access

SES data is deposited with the UK Data Service and available for research use. The survey has been used by hundreds of researchers across disciplines including economics, sociology, management, and education.

Selected Publications

Header image: “Symmetrie / Symmetry” by Boris Thaser, licensed under CC BY 2.0. No changes made.

References