Approximately half, or 49%, of UK workers are in jobs they are either under- or over-skilled for, according to a study from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

The CIPD’s report ‘Over-skilled and underused: Investigating the untapped potential of UK skills’ surveyed 3,700 UK employees found that 37% of workers have the skills to cope with more demanding duties than they currently have. At the opposite end of the scale, 12% of employees said they lacked all the skills needed to carry out their job effectively. This means that 49% of UK workers could be in the wrong job, based on their skill level.

Meanwhile, 30% of respondents said that while a higher level degree would be required in order to get their job, lower qualifications are actually needed to do their job effectively. This suggests that many employers are still using degrees as a way of filtering applications.

However, the report also shows that having a university degree is no guarantee of being prepared for the workplace. More employees with a university degree said they were under-skilled for their role (14%) compared to those without one (10%).

“This highlights the importance of ongoing training and development in the workplace,” CIPD stated. “Despite this, a quarter (24%) of respondents said they had not received training in the last year, with older employees, low wage workers, those on part-time contracts and the self-employed most likely to say this.”

The CIPD also found that 53% of over-skilled workers said they are satisfied with their jobs compared to 74% of people whose skills are well-suited to their role. Furthermore, 22% of workers who say they are over-skilled have been promoted to a higher position in their current organisation compared with almost a third (31%) of workers in well-matched roles. Additionally, more than a quarter of over-skilled workers earn less than £20,000 a year compared with just 15% of those whose say their skills are well matched to their jobs.

Lizzie Crowley, Skills Adviser at the CIPD, commented, “Individuals who report using their skills fully in the workplace have higher levels of job satisfaction, earn more and are more resilient to change, while businesses benefit from a more productive workforce and increased profitability. However, we have ended up in a situation where our economy isn’t creating nearly enough high-skilled jobs, while the proportion of low-skilled roles remains stubbornly high. This leaves many workers trapped in low skill work, which doesn’t match their ability, offers poorer pay and progression prospects and does little to boost the productivity of organisations.”