Career opportunities in sport and physical activity
According to a recent government poll, around 35% of men and 42% of women are not active enough for good health. In fact the nation is on track to be 35% less physically active than in the 60s.
05/05/2022
Everyone in our industry has the power to influence and the means to change these decreasing rates. Based on our recent collection of studies and data (further reading links at the bottom), we think that changes and demand for jobs in the industry are holding the British public in good stead to increase activity rates.
In general, over the past three years job demand in the Sport and Physical Activity sector has increased by 98%.
Some jobs analysed in our latest study have seen huge growth in demand over the past few years. Take, for example, a Nutritionist where jobs listings have increased by 880% in 2021 since 2019.
The demand for Health and Wellness Coaches has also spiked at an extreme rate, with listings up 541% over the past three years.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, and proving to be some of the hardest jobs to crack into, Gymnastics Coaches, Leisure centre Managers and Sports Scientist have all seen decreases in demand since 2019.
Looking further into the data across England, we can see where has been recruiting the most professionals outright. Nottinghamshire is way out front of other English counties in terms of hiring the most people. Bristol (2nd) and Hampshire (3rd) making up the top three counties with the most job listings over the past three years - their postings are 180% and 124% over the national average respectively.
The English counties still expecting a boom in S&PA job listings are Somerset, Northumberland and Hertfordshire. This is where the largest decreases in listings over the last three years can be seen. Considering patterns around England, we predict that listings will boom over the next 12 months.
Access the links below for further reading and more bespoke data studies:
- English Counties for an Active Summer
- Digital Marketing Patterns in sport and physical activity
- Skill Demand v Skill Supply
Methodology: To piece together the study, we considered four major categories for job satisfaction and opportunity. This started with identifying the 30 most popular jobs within the S&PA industry before finding the number of job postings over the past three years, along with the minimum, maximum and average salaries. We then developed the handy dashboard to allow users to easily visualise and compare their chosen profession.
Sources for the study include: Job postings: Data was collected from EMSI and looks at the total number of postings from January 2019 to December 2021 cut down by locations Salaries: Data was collected from both EMSI & Glassdoor
The Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity
CIMSPA’s work enhances the career opportunities and professional development of the workforce operating in sport, fitness, exercise, leisure, gyms, coaching, outdoor exercise, health and wellbeing. We achieve this through sector-wide engagement, membership, networking, events, directories and professional standards.