Does a lack of skills in the market directly affect the economy?

Basic and Key Skills are essential to find yourself a job, but are equally important to help businesses become more successful.

In our last article we wrote about flexibility being key in getting the job market ‘moving’. Employers realising that they need to start devoting time and money to developing current and future staff will be an essential part of the repair process. What we mean by this is investing in developing skills at the start of someone’s career and maintaining this throughout their time as an employee.

In a survey conducted by the British Chamber of Commerce (BCC) it was found that 45% of employers found it difficult to fill vacancies, claiming that candidates lacked the basic skills required for the job, including writing, numeracy, time-keeping and communication. In short, nearly half of UK businesses find it hard to find suitable candidates, despite unemployment being at an alarming 2.52 million (March 2013).

It's no secret that in order to be competitive in the future, businesses need to attract, train and retain talented employees that have both adequate basic / key skills and specialised skills that contribute to their continuing personal and professional development. Without this, businesses won’t have the capacity to thrive and grow as we pull ourselves out from recession.

So we know what the problem is, but what can we do about it?

It needs to be a process started by schools, colleges and universities and followed on by employers. An Academy in South London has recently decided to put pupils on an 8am-5pm timetable to focus on employability skills with an additional 2-4 hours apportioned to teaching or activities, including visits from outside speakers and project-based learning with employers, specifically aimed at developing employability skills. This may seem like an extreme measure, but for those reaching employment age, it could be invaluable, and will also prepare them for what is an average work day for most.

There is also £1.5 billion being spent by the government on investment in apprenticeships, with a 14% rise in apprenticeships in the last year alone. These schemes offer on the job training to candidates and make it easier for employers to use this as a resource for staffing. The scheme is not without its faults, but it is certainly a step in the right direction.

Finally, employers have no choice other than to start seeing past the immediate need for specific skills, and start identifying potential in applicants and developing them. This is not necessarily from school leaver or graduate age, but at all ages and stages of people careers. It seems larger companies do have the capacity to do this, so if more lead by example, maybe small to medium sized businesses would follow suit.