Three Open Roles for Every Trained Worker. 140 Applicants for Every Graduate Job. Why Is Nobody Talking About This?

Ask most 22-year-olds where the good jobs are, and they'll point at the same handful of office doors — consulting, finance, tech, professional services. Ask a UK employer how many people are lined up behind those doors right now, and the answer is genuinely startling: 140, on average, for every single graduate vacancy. In the most competitive sectors, it's closer to 200.

Now look at a completely different labour market, and the picture flips entirely.

The Shortage No One's Talking About

A new report from labour market intelligence firm Lightcast, covered by Facilities Dive, puts a hard number on something the US skilled trades industry has felt for years: employers are short 1.3 million electricians, plumbers, HVAC technicians and other skilled workers. Across the roughly 2.1 million trades openings posted every year, there are only about three job openings for every person who has actually finished the training to fill one.

The shortage isn't spread evenly, either. Seven of the ten most in-demand skilled-trade occupations already face a significant labour shortage, and retirements alone account for around 40% of annual demand — more than a quarter of the current trades workforce is already 55 or older.

Put the ratios side by side: 3 to 1 in the trades. 1 to 140 in the graduate job market. Same economy, two completely different realities.

Two Doors, One Overcrowded

The UK numbers tell the same story from the other side. According to the Institute of Student Employers, the average graduate vacancy now draws 140 applications — the highest figure recorded since the ISE started tracking it in 1991. In digital and IT, that number climbs to 205. In financial and professional services, it's 188.

These aren't separate problems. They're the same problem, viewed from opposite ends of the same funnel: a generation of people has been pointed at the one door with 140 people already queued outside it, while three doors next to it stood open the entire time.

Why the Trades Get Overlooked

It's not that skilled trades are a fallback option. The numbers say the opposite:

• Trades occupations carry a meaningful wage premium over other work that doesn't require a degree
• More than 70% of skilled-trade jobs have a low AI exposure score — under 30% — making them far more resistant to automation than most desk-based roles
• Roughly one in three skilled-trade workers moves into a management or executive role as their next step

The jobs are good. The demand is real. What's missing is a fast, credible way in — especially for people who didn't grow up around a trade and have no idea where to start.

Closing the Gap

That's the exact problem Renzo exists to solve: a real, hands-on route into the skilled trades for people who never had a reason to look at that open door before — not a brochure, an actual path in.

The workers this shortage needs already exist. Right now, they're just standing in the wrong queue.