Survey reveals farming career offers excellent job security
© Tim Scrivener Agriculture is one of the most secure jobs in the UK, recording the fewest number of redundancies compared with any other industries last year.
While the current challenges of recruiting staff into farming are well understood, it seems that those who do secure jobs in the industry are valued by their employers, according to a new survey by life insurance broker Reassured.
Together with fishing, energy and water, it ranked fifth on the list of the top 10 industries for job security in the UK.
See also: Report shows horticulture sector on a knife edge
It had a redundancy rate averaging just 3.65% in the past 10 years, just behind human health and social work, which is the top sector for job security with a rate is just 1.43%. In second place was education at 1.49%.
The research also found agriculture had the fewest redundancies of any sector in 2021.
The industries with the highest rates were wholesale, retail and motor repair roles, with 71,789 redundancies recorded in that 12-month period.
Next generation
Bob Thompson, of Preston-based Shire Consulting, which recruits workers into farming and the agriculture supply chain, said agriculture is one of the longest established industries globally and in the UK. As such, there will always be jobs available in it for the right people.
But, with the expectations of workers now changing, he worries that issues around recruitment could become even more profound going forward.
He wants more done in schools to give the next generation an early understanding of the potential for careers in agriculture.
“A lot of it goes back to how food production, farming and horticulture are introduced to schoolchildren in their formative years. Room needs to be found in the curriculum for this,” Mr Thompson suggested.