UK Print and Packaging Skills Warning as Job Vacancies Hit Five-Year Low

Young People in Print and Packaging has warned that a decline in UK job vacancies could worsen the print and packaging sector’s long-term skills shortage. The warning follows the release of an ONS labor market overview in June 2026 showing vacancies at their lowest level since 2021.

The headline number is concerning on its own. The structure behind the number is more concerning still. According to Young People in Print and Packaging, the ONS data masks deeper structural problems for the industry, with manufacturing businesses and SMEs recording the sharpest falls in vacancy numbers.

The organization is warning that reduced hiring activity risks accelerating skills gaps in a sector already facing an aging workforce pipeline.

A warning shot

Jo Stephenson, board member of Young People in Print and Packaging, framed the data in stark terms. “This report should be a warning shot for the industry. We are shutting the door on the next generation of talent at the exact moment when we should be welcoming them through it. Our industry depends on highly specialized knowledge that builds up over the years. Too much short-term caution risks creating long-term gaps in skills and innovation.”

The labor market backdrop makes the warning more pointed. The ONS report follows the UK government’s Young People and Work Review, which found that around one million 16 to 24-year-olds are not in employment, education, or training. In other words, there is a large pool of young people who could be entering the workforce, while the print and packaging industry is hiring less.

A disconnect between opportunity and perception

The print and packaging industry has a perception problem with young workers. The dominant image, Stephenson argued, is out of date. The sector is no longer dominated by ink-stained press operators hunched over legacy equipment. It is increasingly defined by automation, AI, robotics, materials science, sustainability, and data-led production.

Those are exactly the kinds of fields that engage young workers. The challenge is that too many of them do not know it.

“The industry is well positioned to attract young talent given its involvement in automation, AI, robotics, materials science, sustainability and data-led production, but said the industry needs to communicate that story more actively to schools, colleges, and universities,” Stephenson said.

The gap between the reality of modern print and packaging and the public perception of the industry is one of the more important workforce issues facing the sector. Closing that gap is not a quick fix. It requires sustained engagement with educators, parents, and career advisors who shape the choices young people make.

The risk of inaction

The risk of inaction is not abstract. Print and packaging depend on a deep reservoir of specialized knowledge — color science, materials behavior, machine maintenance, finishing techniques, quality control, and process engineering. That knowledge is built up over years on the job. It does not transfer easily from a university textbook.

When an experienced operator retires and is not replaced, that knowledge leaves with them. Multiply that pattern across a sector, and the result is a slow-motion skills crisis that becomes harder to reverse the longer it runs.

The current decline in vacancies may look like a labor market success story in the short term — fewer open roles means lower friction for employers. In the long term, it is storing up trouble. The companies that are not hiring today will be the companies that cannot find the talent they need in five or ten years.

For the print and packaging industry, the message from the ONS data is uncomfortable but clear. Hiring is not just about filling today’s roles. It is about building the talent pipeline that the sector will need for the next generation. The window for action is open now, but it will not stay open forever.