LinkedIn and government join forces to help jobseekers build their careers

Thousands of jobseekers could be supported into a new career as the government joins forces with LinkedIn to bolster careers advice.

It will see timely anonymised data on jobs, skills, hiring and workforce movement shared with Skills England from LinkedIn’s network of 40 million UK accounts, giving the government a new way of viewing the labour market.

In the future this could be used by the new Jobs and Careers Service to provide jobseekers with more tailored advice on industry specific skills and career routes, helping them to reach their goals.

As the recent Skills England Annual Report found, a further 1.8 million extra jobs will be needed in priority sectors by 2035. The DWP will work with LinkedIn to map how people move between jobs, with the aim of helping people to widen their career options and businesses to look beyond traditional recruitment pools.

The landmark partnership with LinkedIn recognises the days of a job for life are increasingly rare. As Funding Circle has found, the average worker will go through seven jobs in their lifetime, with younger people more likely to change roles. This shows that having the right data on career paths and the skills necessary to follow them is more crucial than ever.

The DWP and Skills England are excited to explore how this data can be used and will explore a number of possibilities as our work with LinkedIn progresses.

An improved understanding of where there is a skills mismatch between local job adverts and the skills of the local population is our first priority for this work in order to inform new skills options and drive economic growth.

Young people in particular will benefit from this partnership as the government will gain a more detailed insight of the local workforce and how it is evolving.

Last week the Secretary of State Pat McFadden met with LinkedIn’s Blake Lawit, to mark this exciting new partnership. The partnership comes as the government takes forward the biggest employment reforms in a generation, including the creation of the new Jobs and Careers Service and a major drive backed by £2.5 billion investment to give every young person the chance to earn or learn.

Pat McFadden Secretary of State said:

We know young people today are far less likely than previous generations to stay in the same career for life, which is why we must give them the tools to build a fulfilling, lasting career path.

This partnership with LinkedIn will give us a clearer understanding of the jobs market – what employers need, where opportunities are, and how people are building their careers, in order to boost economic growth.

Together with our £2.5 billion youth employment support package, we are making sure that every young person across the country has the chance to earn or learn.

Phil Smith, Chair of Skills England, said:

I’m really excited about this partnership. LinkedIn has become such a hub for businesses that are recruiting and people on the look-out for jobs.

The resulting insights from their anonymised data will be incredibly valuable to Skills England and the new Jobs and Careers Service – particularly when it comes to identifying local skills gaps and helping young people to fill them.

We’re looking forward to joining forces to make a major difference.

Blake Lawit, Chief Global Affairs & Legal Officer of LinkedIn:

Today’s careers are increasingly shaped by skills, adaptability, and continuous learning.

Professionals entering the workforce now are on pace to hold twice as many jobs over their careers compared to 15 years ago. As people navigate more career transitions, access to timely labour market insights is more important than ever.

We’re proud to be supporting the UK Government’s efforts to better understand workforce trends, close talent gaps, and help more people find their next opportunity faster.

Additional Information

No individual-level member data will be shared with DWP.

LinkedIn has a database of 40 million accounts which includes students, retirees and working people recognise the UK as their professional home.

To protect the privacy of LinkedIn’s members, data will be collected within LinkedIn’s existing systems, with anonymised findings shared with Skills England. insight into how many people are employed, how they’re working.

Skills England will lead on this partnership on behalf of DWP, with officials already working to begin the initial phase of the project.