Skills Shortages In The UK Economy – Bulletin 11

The eleventh bulletin focuses on the troubling consequences of the existing skills shortages and current unpredictable economic circumstances, and identifies areas where targeted action can make the most difference.
Read the full bulletin here

Key points from the report:

• Employers are concerned that the significant gap between the skills employers require and skills available in the labour market threatens their success. The Open University’s 2022 Business Barometer reports that 78% of UK organisations suffered a decline in output, profitability, or growth as a consequence of a lack of available skills, and the Federation of Small Businesses finds 80% of small firms faced difficulties recruiting applicants with suitable skills. The Recruitment & Employment Confederation estimates that if labour shortages are not addressed the cost to the UK economy will be £39 billion a year from 2024. Businesses and the government must see skills as an investment, not a cost, and also recognise the ‘everincreasing importance of inclusive workplaces contributing to their growth, productivity and revenue’. The Department for Education has established the Unit for Future Skills (UFS) to capture data on employers’ current and future skills needs and develop ‘products that enable users to make informed training and investment decisions’.
• The deficit of emerging technical skills required in sectors such as nursing and social care compounds existing labour shortages caused by issues such as poor working conditions, poor work-life balance, low pay, limited progression, and new restrictions on immigration policies. Required digital skills include not just sector-specific digital skills, but also include more general digital skills including record-keeping and communication skills. In film and TV, a similar situation is compounded by a lack of adequate information about screen industries reaching young people through their education. The London Screen Academy’s diploma programme highlights one approach helping to tackle this shortage. It provides screen industry skills alongside developing professional behaviours through applied learning and assessed project work. In nursing and social care, the NHS fears that abolishing BTECs in 2024 and 2025 will damage the NHS in England’s efforts to recruit enough nurses.
• Young people and their carers struggle with a lack of information and understanding of the skills employers require and those skills that will be important in the future and require stronger careers advice. Young people between 11- and 30-years old feel especially vulnerable, the Youth Voice Census 2022 highlights. The consequences of lost opportunities due to the pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis, and global political tensions, lead young people to report low self-belief, and a disconnect from careers education and career opportunities. Carers, care leavers, Black and transgender respondents were the least confident there were quality jobs available to them. While young people are attracted the new opportunities arising in green industries and for green growth, they exhibit a limited understanding of the necessary skills to participate in the green economy, and like employers they lack faith in the capacity of existing education provision to provide them with such skills. Parents remain important sources of career advice but are often similarly unfamiliar with new, often flexible, career route options. The Gatsby Foundation presents their new free suite of resources, ‘Talking Futures’, to help parents with these conversations.