55% of employers cannot find skilled workers
14/03/2007 | Posted by John Smith in UK stats
A new report by the British Chambers of Commerce uncovers the increasing difficulties British businesses face in finding employees with the right skills.
55% of employers said that they find it more difficult to recruit skilled employees today than five years ago, revealing the true extent of the worrying skills gap in British workers. The report strengthens the need for the Government to place business needs at the heart of plans to revise vocational training for young people and adults.
The commitment of businesses to the personal development of their staff was also revealed in the survey with a majority recognising the importance of training. Over 83% of small businesses provided training for their staff and 77% make professional assessments of staff training needs and evaluate the effectiveness of the training they pay for.
PSN HR Director Dean Hunter says: “Training is as important as recruitment. Research shows the main reason people leave their jobs is due to lack of development, so training and re-training is a must if you want to keep your staff.”
The survey also found that businesses find it difficult to access training. The cost of training, time taken away from the businesses in order to attend training courses and limited eligibility for government funding were the main barriers cited by businesses.
It seems to have passed people by that there is a skills shortage in the UK. Much of the media is fixated with immigration issues from the extended European community. Research from the chartered institute of personnel development shows that nearly 50,000 new jobs are created each month in the UK. It is extremely difficult to envisage that economic growth and inflation could have been kept in check with the invaluable assistance of our European.
Source: BCC Chamber Online