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Studying tech subjects, at every level, boosts long-term earnings and career prospects
New research shows how qualifications in STEM subjects – including Computing, as well as Maths and Science - can support young people’s career and pay progression. It also explores how economic pressures, offshoring and Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation are reshaping the tech labour market.
The findings come from one of several new reports from the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), funded by The Hg Foundation, examining how education pathways and changing labour market trends in the UK tech sector are shaping opportunities for young people and the future workforce. They follow NFER research published earlier this year, also funded by The Hg Foundation, that found a sharp slowdown in UK tech hiring, particularly for entry level positions.
The Tech Pipeline – Investigating educational pathways into the tech sector in England demonstrates that tech qualifications, including vocational and apprenticeship routes, can provide high returns for young people and support the tech pipeline. NFER found that by age 28, tech graduates earn around £2,000 more per year than the average graduate in any subject. This is despite the fact that students taking Level 3 vocational qualifications or degrees in tech subjects tend to have lower GCSE results than their peers studying other subjects. However, the research also shows that overall participation and progression in tech education remain unequal, by gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic background.
UK tech hiring in transition? The current state of play and where future opportunities might lie finds that while hiring has slowed overall – especially at entry level and in traditional tech roles such as software development – demand is increasing for certain areas, including in AI, data analytics and cybersecurity. Where this will land medium term is unclear. Employers also report increasingly prioritising practical experience and essential skills such as resilience, problem solving and adaptability, alongside technical competence. AI is expected to drive both job displacement and job creation over time, underscoring the need for continuous reskilling and flexible career pathways.
The Hg Foundation has brought together the key findings from the three reports and offered reflections on the implications for the sector in a summary report.
All three outputs from the research programme, along with The Hg Foundation’s summary report, can be found below:
UK tech hiring in transition? The current state of play and where future opportunities might lie.
The Tech Pipeline: Investigating educational pathways into the tech sector in England.
The Foundation plans to continue to invest in research that monitors the tech employment landscape, supporting our partners to align their programmes with genuine employer demand and future workforce needs.
Tech and STEM qualifications, combined with AI and data literacy, strong essential skills and real-world work experience, offer a strong platform for social mobility in an uncertain and rapidly changing tech labour market. Yet not all groups have the same chances to develop these skills and pursue these pathways. Without intervention the shifts highlighted in this research risk exacerbating existing inequalities. At the Hg Foundation we will continue to support our partners to adapt to this changing landscape, as well as supporting new initiatives that address new challenges and the evolving skills-needs of employers. By doing so we hope to help underrepresented talent not only successfully navigate this period of upheaval, but to positively seize the new opportunities that will emerge.
Our research shows that tech qualifications can play a role in levelling the playing field. Young people who start out with lower attainment at school can, through studying tech subjects, go on to achieve higher earnings and enter well-paid, future-facing careers. Tech jobs can be drivers of social mobility – but there is still work to do to ensure more girls, disadvantaged young people and others underrepresented in the tech sector can benefit from these opportunities. The tech workforce is undergoing one of its biggest transformations in decades. Economic pressures, AI, automation and offshoring have driven a sharp slowdown in tech hiring over the past three years, and these forces are reshaping the roles that exist.
