2.1 Skills-related underemployment by sex

Figure 2.1 shows that the proportion of individuals categorised as underemployed in terms of their skills steadily increased between 2006 and 2022. Skills related underemployment considerably increased since 2006. The number of overqualified employees increased from over 1.5 million in 2006, to over 3.7 million in 2022. From 2006 to 2008 the percentage of overqualified male and female workers was similar, however since 2009 the gap between women and men has widened.

In the quarter from January to March 2022 the LFS questionnaire had changes related to education variables. This implies that values from previous waves were not brought forward to this period (ONS 2022b). Therefore, we have removed the quarter from January to March 2022 in this section.

FIGURE 2.1: Workers with qualifications exceeding the requirements for their occupation

References

———. 2022b. “User Guide VOLUME 4a – Updates to the LFS Education Derived Variables 2022.” London: Office for National Statistics. https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/methodologies/labourforcesurveyuserguidance/lfsugvol4aeducationsupplement2022.pdf.