UK skills shortage-employers look overseas
13 December 2013
In October 2013, a study conducted by City and Guilds revealed that nearly 60 percent of employers think there is a skills shortage in the UK, with a third looking to recruit talent from overseas to expand their businesses.
Paris based OECD stated that in England and Ireland, social inequalities needed to be addressed, particularly among young people. It said those nations had particularly large proportions of adults with poor numeracy skills. Their report says high quality initial education is an important predictor for success in adult life, but countries must combine this with flexible, skills-oriented learning opportunities.
A group of leading industrialists, spearheaded by Qinetiq, has pledged to recruit five percent of its permanent workforce from among graduate trainees and apprentices within five years, and wants all the UK's public and private companies to follow suit.
The launch of the '5% Club' aims to demonstrate that British Business is helping to tackle youth unemployment as well as the country's skills shortage, notably in areas such as science, technology, engineering and maths.
UK IT and digital companies are among the worst affected by a skills shortage, which is forcing employers to look abroad for talent, according to City & Guilds. If an occupation is on the shortage occupation list, it means there are not enough resident workers to fill the available jobs in that particular occupation. If a migrant needs to apply for leave under Tier 2, to do a job that is on the shortage occupation list, they will get all the points they need to apply.