Today (16 October) at Highways UK at the NEC Birmingham, Sue Percy CBE, Chief Executive at CIHT has launched the latest CIHT research report, ‘Employment Trends: How highways and transportation professionals see their future careers’.

In this first of its biennial reports tracking employment trends and key skills issues, CIHT has gathered information from a wide selection of people in the UK’s highways and transportation sector. It reveals key insights on the sector, and how it will cope with the challenges of new technologies, the climate crisis and wider economic trends.

This report, based on the 2025 CIHT Sector Employment Trends survey of 975 professionals, highlights the state of play in employment in the highways and transportation sector.

Sue Percy CBE, Chief Executive, CIHT said:

“This report gives us a timely snapshot of how people in our industry view their careers, the challenges we face, and the opportunities we must seize to build a resilient, future-ready workforce.”

“One of the clearest messages from the report is that a battle for talent is brewing. Over half of senior leaders—54%—say they’re actively recruiting. Yet, 87% of professionals are satisfied in their current roles, and 70% say they’re unlikely to move in the next year.”

Analysis of the survey has revealed some key areas to action:

• The Talent Landscape – a battle for talent is brewing with a static pool of available staff
• Building Expertise & CPD – there is a need for more structured programme for staff development
• Net Zero and Environmental Confidence – a gloomy outlook on net zero means we need to turn ambition into action
• Artificial Intelligence and Technology – the sector needs to take advantage of AI tools
• UK Outlook - confidence in the UK government’s ability to deliver major infrastructure projects is low but there is some optimism at the personal and local level
• Equality, Diversity and Inclusion – EDI has a vital role to lay in ensuring the success of the profession through diversity of thought and experience

Skills for the future

Sue Percy CBE, Chief Executive, CIHT said:

"To meet the challenges ahead, we need a clear national skills plan and have identified four pillars to support this.

1. Workforce planning embedded in infrastructure strategies.
2. Investment in technical education, apprenticeships, and lifelong learning.
3. Professional competence and ethics as standard across the profession.
4. Support for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in recruitment, progression, and training.

These pillars are the foundation for a skilled, inclusive, and future-ready workforce."

To find out more and access a copy of 'Employment Trends: How highways and transportation professionals see their future careers’, please visit www.ciht.org.uk/trends or contact e: communications@ciht.org.uk for more information