C OMMENT & OPINION
HOW CAN WE SOLVE THE UK’S SKILLS SHORTAGE PUZZLE?
Wayne Lysaght-Mason, managing director at IronmongeryDirect, looks at the scale of the skills gap and how it can be combatted.
RECENT RESEARCH has highlighted that UK home- owners are beginning to feel the effects of the skills shortage, with many strug- professional over the past year.
The shortage of skilled workers within the construc- tion sector has been widely reported for the past couple of years. To put it into per- spective, the CITB forecasts that the industry needs to skilled workers needing to be replaced when they hit retirement age over the next decade.
One of the effects of this shortage is on the ease tradesperson to undertake a research that found that some two-thirds of the UK have noticed a shortage of available workers when looking for someone to down, this meant that one a suitable tradesperson for three weeks, while suitable at all. Looking at the research it is clear that the skills shortage is starting to affect consumers in a tangible way. But what happens if the number of tradespeople drops even more?
Consequences
Aside from meaning that skilled tradespeople are harder to source, the shortage could have a number of other potential consequences. Consumer prices, for example, may rise due to high demand. In fact, a recent poll of UK contractors found that labour shortages are driving
16
up costs so much that they have no choice but to increase their rates and turn down perceived “high-risk” clients.
suggested that the skills gap could be holding back the UK’s economic recovery. Now with the UK’s impending departure from the EU, it seems the shortage is only likely to be exacerbated with the labour cuts due to possible
immigration restrictions, and we may even lose some of our current investment in training and apprenticeships that help to boost the industry’s numbers. To ensure the shortage does not get any worse, businesses must be doing more to attract talent into the industry. There are currently not enough young people who are entering the profession to replace the high levels of workers who are close to hitting retirement age, so creating more apprenticeships is one way to boost numbers. Apprenticeship schemes need to be supported by higher-levels of investment and communication to ensure that people are training in a trade skill. Particularly once the apprenticeship levy is be looking to harness this in young talent and grow workforces.
Another way businesses can help ensure the workforce is not further depleted is by encouraging staff to upskill, thereby making room for more specialist talent that can take on multiple skills gaps. Firms can
November 2016 BMJ “
To ensure the shortage does not get any
worse, businesses must be doing more to attract talent into the
industry...creating apprenticships is one way to boost numbers.”
do this by providing training opportunities in an accessible way for employees and communicating to them Increased opportunities for career progression and promotion, for example, are key incentives for employees to undertake further training, which will in turn as well as employer. Filling the skills gaps can only work if key stakeholders collaborate to ensure that the trade industry are widely communicated to attract new workers. The whole industry must begin to work together to start bolstering the workforce sooner rather than later, to ensure that the skills shortage does not worsen further.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
