Settling for less

Two in five UK businesses today admitted they have been forced to settle for less over the last twelve months by taking on staff who don''t have the level of skills required.

The major new survey published by the Sector Skills Development Agency reveals a surprising level of compromise by UK businesses who simply can''t find staff with the right qualifications or experience to fill key roles and
positions.

The finding is a clear indication that the UK economy does not have the skills it needs to be successful, warns Professor Mike Campbell, Director of Policy and Research at the SSDA and one of the country''s leading labour market economists.

Yet employers clearly see skills as critical to business success.

A study of 1,000 UK employers, conducted by IFF Research Ltd on behalf of the Sector Skills Development Agency, found that:

* two out of three employers say that improving the skills of the existing workforce is essential or very important for their organisation

* three in five (61%) believe that attracting suitably skilled new workers to their business is essential or very important, and
* 39% say they have already had to compromise over the past 12 months by employing someone who is less skilled than they wished.

More generally, half (52%) are finding it difficult to recruit suitably skilled staff, and three-quarters agree that improving the ability of their staff to undertake a wider range of tasks is a priority.

These findings clearly show that many employers are finding it very difficult to attract and retain staff with the right skills, says Prof Campbell.

Without strong and decisive action, the situation will continue to deteriorate. Productivity in the UK is well below that of many of our major competitors - France, Germany and the US, for example. Although there are
many reasons for this, our comparatively low level of skills accounts for at least 20% of our productivity gap with Germany and 12% with France.

If we are to reverse this trend, it''s vital that employers are given a stronger voice in the UK''s education and training system, and we look forward to the publication of the government''s skills strategy white paper,
which promises just that.

The full Skills for Business 1000 survey can be downloaded from