66% of adults ‘can start new career with second skills’

More than 300,000 enterprising people are already using them to earn more than £5,000 a year, the study has revealed.

The report says these “second skills” are estimated to be worth more than £7.6 billion a year to the UK economy.

The findings from a poll of more than 1,100 people for careers event WorldSkills London 2011 reveal more than 16 million UK adults (61 per cent) have hidden talents such as tiling, carpentry and plumbing which could lead to a new career.

Cooking is the most common with more than one in five people in the UK (22 per cent) reporting to have mastered the kitchen sufficiently to be able to forge a new career or start a new business.

Next is painting and decorating (12 per cent) followed by childcare (10 per cent), tutoring (10 per cent) and web design (9 per cent).

A fifth (20 per cent) of those with other abilities say they use them to earn money, but two in five (40 per cent) enjoy using their skills as a hobby while nearly a third (31 per cent) offer their services to friends and family.

Nearly 20 per cent cite their extra skills on their CV to improve job prospects.

One in six (16 per cent) say they would like to do a job in which their other skills were utilised.

According to the study, 1.5 million UK adults are planning to use their other skills or qualifications to change career in the future and more than one million plan to start their own business using their second skills. Aidan Jones, chief executive of WorldSkills London 2011, said: “It is great to see that people are so diversely skilled and are using those skills to help boost the economy and develop their careers.

“The study shows how important skills are in shaping our world, with people all over the UK having acquired or studied for vocational skills they could use in the workplace or to start a new business.

“Developing practical skills can open up a range of new opportunities for people, young and old, both now and in the future.

“WorldSkills London in October aims to open people’s eyes and capture people’s imaginations, allowing thousands to have a go at trying out a new skill, discovering their career aspirations and showing that you can achieve your ambitions through skills.”

The average amount earned by those generating cash from their second skills is £3,643.81, according to the survey. Of those questioned, 20 per cent said they used their skills to earn extra money.

When weighted to represent the population this equates to 3,223,000 people, of which 65 per cent (2,106,000 people) were prepared or able to divulge their personal financial information.

This number (2,106,000) multiplied by £3,643.81 amounts to £7,673,863,860 in extra earnings for UK adults using their skills.