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Shortage of highly skilled workers due to intensify
Date: 19 May 2010
Demand for highly-skilled people will intensify during the recovery, and employers fear they will not be able to find people with the skills they need
Demand for highly-skilled people will intensify during the recovery, and employers fear they will not be able to find people with the skills they need to fill high-level jobs, a new survey has revealed.
The new CBI report, '
Ready to grow: business priorities for education and skills', sponsored by qualifications-awarding body EDI, reveals that half of employers (51%) are concerned they will not be able to fill posts requiring the right graduate level or higher skills in the coming years, and a third (32%) don’t believe it will be possible to fill intermediate level jobs, requiring skills equivalent to A level. A third (30%) of employers predict the need for lower-level skills will decrease, while just 17% say it will increase.
Despite the recession, nearly half of employers (45%) say they are already having difficulty recruiting staff with skills in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM), with manufacturers and science-related businesses having the most difficulty finding highly-skilled people to fill their posts. Even more companies (59%) expect to have difficulty finding STEM-skilled people in the next three years.
Richard Lambert, CBI Director-General said:
"Our survey shows businesses want tomorrow’s workforce to be at the top of the new government’s policy agenda. As we move further into recovery and businesses plan for growth, the demand for people with high-quality skills and qualifications will intensify.
"In the future, people with qualifications in science and maths will be particularly sought after, and firms say it is already hard to find people with the right technical or engineering skills. The new government must make encouraging more young people to study science-related subjects a top priority. Businesses can help by showing that these skills lead to exciting and rewarding careers, helping to tackle the big challenges, such as climate change and energy security.
"Employers across all sectors recognise there is a need to improve the calibre of leadership and management skills, and this is particularly marked in the public sector."
The survey also found that companies recognise the importance of training during the economic downturn, with two-thirds (63%) seeing investment in skills as very important to their strategic objectives and future growth. Even during the fragile recovery period most employers (72%) plan to maintain or increase spending on training and development – only 28% plan to cut training budgets, most plan no change (58%) and some even plan to increase spending (14%).
Nigel Snook, EDI Chief Executive, said:
"This year’s CBI / EDI Education and Skills Survey highlights the importance of creating a clear strategy for vocational education and training which links the development of basic employment skills all the way through to the achievement of high level technical, professional and managerial qualifications.”
