Cooling job market but automotive skills still in demand
Demand for automotive skills remains high despite a cooling job market, according to The Institute of the Motor Industry.
The latest Recruitment & Employment Confederation and KPMG UK Report on Jobs has revealed that hiring fell at its slowest pace for nearly three years. The report also found that there were fewer vacancies from January to February.
However, the IMI has warned that the skills challenge in automotive remains severe, with 16,000 motor trade vacancies in the period between November 2025 and January 2026.
The most in-demand roles are workshop-based and include paint technicians, vehicle technicians, and repairers.
Capability pressure
Emma Carrigy, head of research, careers and inclusion at the IMI, said: “Recent headlines suggest the UK labour market is cooling. Vacancies are down. Hiring is slowing. Competition for roles is increasing. On the surface, that sounds like pressure is easing. But in automotive, it’s not that simple. When we look at the latest data from the IMI Vacancy Tracker, what stands out isn’t the disappearance of labour shortages, it’s a shift from volume pressure to capability pressure. And that’s arguably harder to solve.
“As markets cool, structural weaknesses become more visible. Automotive vacancy rates remain above the national average, but demand is becoming more concentrated around specific technical and diagnostic skills, electrification capability and multi-skilled expertise. “This is the phase where workforce strategy really matters. It’s not about how many people we need, it’s about having the right skills architecture for where the sector is heading.
“A cooling labour market doesn’t automatically resolve structural skills gaps. In some cases, it sharpens them. That’s why sector-specific insight matters, and why we need to be careful not to oversimplify the narrative.”
