TECHNOLOGY CHANGED EVERYTHING:
digital skills & high street decline

Research on behalf of Stripe Partners & Google

18.4 million people in the UK are at risk of being left behind

Cities and towns across the UK have seen a shift away from traditional industries. As these types of businesses have evolved so have the skills required in the job market: technology is the norm and digital literacy is necessary to get by.

However, 12.6 million of the adult UK population lack basic digital skills and an estimated 5.8 million people have never used the internet at all (House of Commons, 2016). Those most at risk are workers aged between 35 and 55 years; this group missed out the intuitive digital education millennials benefitted from - but their success in at work in increasingly reliant upon their digital skills.

Technology is changing the UK’s town centres too. Physical retail stores are closing in favour of online shopping, and libraries are giving way to digital content. But, what if the high street could be used as a place to teach people the digital skills they need? By hosting practical digital skills workshops in town centres across the UK, Google’s Digital Garage initiative did just this and our research informed how these sessions were structured.