19% of the vacant positions were in critical roles that could seriously impact operations, warned the report that was carried out on behalf of the Automotive Industrial Partnership.
Engineering is experiencing the worst shortages, according to the report. A lack of home-grown talent, especially in design and production, has seen a large increase in temporary and overseas hires.
Despite these challenges, the automotive sector enjoyed a record year for car production in 2015. A total of 1.59 million cars were produced here across the 12-month period and nearly 800,000 people were employed in the industry.
But UK skills minister Nick Boles warned that “we cannot be complacent” if we hope repeat this success in the future.
“The sector needs to maintain its high productivity and international competitiveness and address the required demand of skilled workforce, engineers and designers,” he said.
Also commenting on the findings, SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said: “The struggle to fill vacancies is holding back growth and opportunities for business, and it is essential that both government and industry work together quickly to identify ways to plug this gap.
“Future [skills and apprenticeship] schemes must focus on quality not just quantity – and more support is needed to promote STEM subjects in schools.”
