Skills gap persists, says CBI
Article Date: Jun 19 2007Richard Wainer, principal policy adviser at the CBI, tells GrowthBusiness.co.uk that skills gaps remain at every level of the British workforce. He believes that resolving the problem is essential if the UK is to remain competitive on a global level.
‘The UK is a patchwork quilt of strengths and weaknesses, especially at the lower and intermediate levels of skills,’ says Wainer. ‘In terms of employability, compared to our European competitors, we don’t do particularly well.’
Wainer separates the problem into what he calls ‘stock’ and ‘flow’. In terms of the current ‘stock’ of workers in the UK, he says basic skills are still a problem, with seven million people lacking basic literacy and 17 million without the numeracy skills expected of an 11-year-old.
As for the ‘flow’ into the workforce from the education system, Wainer points to the fact that only 45 per cent of students leave school with a GCSE Grade C or above in English and Maths.
It’s not all bad news. ‘We do better at higher-level skills,’ says Wainer. ‘We have a greater percentage of graduates in the workforce than other European countries, but there is a gap here too. A higher level of skills in leadership and management is needed to compete with regions like Eastern Europe, China, India and South America.’
