This document summarizes the results of a skills audit of digital businesses in Manchester in 2018. It finds that 31% of businesses employ 1-10 people, while 34% employ 51 or more. Nearly half of businesses have relocated to Manchester city center. The top skills in demand are developers, digital marketing, and AI/machine learning specialists. Graduates are often found to lack both technical and soft skills for work readiness. Retaining talent is a challenge, with competitors actively poaching employees, and salaries rising an average of 10% annually for technical roles like development.

1. Skills Audit
2018

2. Alison Ross
Skills Audit 2018
Tom Amies-Cull
Vice Chair of Manchester Digital

3. Business Profile
Company Type %
Telecoms 1
Hosting 3
Infrastructure (ISP Cloud etc.) 3
PR 3
Content Production 5
E-commerce 5
Product Development 5
Design Agency 6
Corporate with digital function (Bank, Law Firm) 8
Consultancy 9
Public Sector 9
Technology Provider 9
Software Development 16
Digital Agency 18

4. Business Profile
31%
employ 1 - 10 people
11%
employ 11 - 25 people
10%
employ 26 - 50 people
34%
employ 51-251+

5. Business Profile
10%

6. Business Profile
45%
Relocated to MCR City Centre
30%
Rest of NW
25%
Rest of GM

7. Business Profile
77% 83%

8. Business Profile
68%

9. Business Profile
47% 34% 30% 28% 28% 22% 20% 12%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%

10. WORKFORCE
DIVERSITY

11. Workforce Diversity
81:1964:36

12. Workforce Diversity
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
5%
51+
22%
41 – 50
31%
31 – 40
25%
25 – 30
12%
18 – 24
5%
16 - 17

13. Workforce Diversity
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
1%
Other ethnic
groups
6%
Black/African/
Caribbean/
Black
6%
Asian/Asian
British
6%
Mixed/multiple
ethnic groups
8%
White other
73%
White British

14. Workforce Diversity
6%
EU
7%
Outside of EU
16%
UK
71%
Within the NW

15. BREXIT &
OFFSHORING

16. Of those 45%
56%
48%
Brexit & Offshoring
45% said their businesses had felt effects
from the uncertainty around Brexit

17. Brexit & Offshoring

18. Brexit & Offshoring
20%
of businesses had to
offshore work from the
UK to within the EU
20%
of businesses had to
offshore work from the
UK to outside the EU

19. SKILLS
IN THE
WORKPLACE

20. Talent & Skills
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
20%
Developer
12%
AI & Machine
Learning
9%
Dev Ops
9%
Digital
Marketing
9%
Dev Ops
8%
Data Analyst
7%
Testers/QA
7%
Data Scientist
7%
Project
Manager
6%
Sales &
Business
Development
Manager
6%
Other

21. Talent & Skills
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
49%
Developer
15%
Client-facing
14%
Dev Ops
12%
System Architect
10%
Data Scientist

22. Talent & Skills
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
32%
JavaScript
23%
PHP
23%
Java
21%
C#
17%
Angular JS
13%
Node.JS
11%
Android
10%
SQL
10%
Python
10%
iOS

23. EARLY TALENT -
GRADUATES &
APPRENTICES

24. 70%
48%
52% 48%
EARLY TALENT – GRADUATES
& APPRENTICES
Only 13% of businesses feel grads have the
right soft skills and knowledge for work
readiness
Nearly half (43%) felt grads lacked both
technical and soft skills or knowledge to be
considered work-ready

25. EARLY TALENT – GRADUATES
& APPRENTICES
28% 25% 19% 14% 14%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%

26. EARLY TALENT – GRADUATES
& APPRENTICES
Does your business employ apprentices?
39% of businesses employ apprentices
27% of businesses run their own apprenticeship scheme
4 in 10 businesses employ apprentices

27. EARLY TALENT – GRADUATES
& APPRENTICES
●
●

28. 3/4
EARLY TALENT – GRADUATES
& APPRENTICES

29. RETENTION &
REMUNERATION

30. RETENTION &
REMUNERATION
Salary demand Competitors & poaching

31. RETENTION &
REMUNERATION
53%
No
47%
Yes

32. RETENTION &
REMUNERATION
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
16%
18%
16%
Development
11%
Digital Marketing
9%
Sales and Business
Development
8%
Creative
8%
IT & Infrastructure

33. RETENTION &
REMUNERATION
Trainee
12k-25K
Junior
15k-35K
Mid Developer
25k-55K
Senior Developer
25k-70k
£ £ £
10% average wage inflation in technical roles

34. CONCLUSION