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Survey Reveals Lack of Work-Ready Skills in Young People
With the help of the British Chambers of Commerce, Business West has put together an economic survey.
The last quarter’s results, gathered from 740 businesses were generally positive, mirroring the national picture and show that our economy is still strong and moving in the right direction.
After recruitment stalled in Q1, the news was positive once again in Q2 for Swindon and Wiltshire, with 44% of businesses recruiting staff, up 15 points, and 44% saying that they expect to recruit in the next three months, up by eight points.
However, the survey highlighted a serious lack of work-ready skills in school and college leavers.
Key findings on labour market skills in Swindon & Wiltshire:
- 40% believe that the region is not attractive to new talent
- Over half (53%) have not recruited a school/college leaver, graduate, or long-term unemployed person in the past 12 months.
- Based on general perceptions , a low proportion believe that school leavers (4%), college leavers (7%), university graduates (18%) and the long term unemployed (6%) are well prepared for work.
Commenting on the results, Phil Smith, Managing Director at Business West said: “The last quarter’s results painted a positive picture for our region, showing that growth remains on a strong footing here in Swindon & Wiltshire with business confidence up on both the quarter and the year, standing at 78%.
“The positive news announced this week by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) on the labour market in July, showing unemployment down 1.4% on the year nationally and 0.7% in the South West, further reinforces what our respondents are telling us - that they have recruited more staff or expect to over the next three months. But lack of skills continues to be mentioned as a growing issue in the region, so we sought to explore this further – with staggering results. Of firms that recruited, 45% had difficulties recruiting suitably skilled staff and a very low percentage believe that school leavers, college leavers, university graduates and the long term unemployed are well prepared for work.
“These findings indicate that schools and colleges are not producing business-ready young people and more must be done to improve the link between business and education to ensure a sustainable long term recovery.”
To find out more visit www.businesswest.co.uk
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