International Team to boost UK employer productivity

A new panel of international experts has been established to help UK employers boost their productivity, Skills for Business has announced today.

With the UK’s productivity levels already eight per cent lower than the EU average, amounting to some 80 billion of lost output to the economy, Skills for Business, the network of employer-led Sector Skills Councils, has sought international expertise to assist in halting this decline.

One of the International Advisory Panel’s core tasks will be to use their experience and knowledge of government policy in other countries to see what more the UK can do to raise the skill level of the UK workforce to improve economic performance.

The 16 members of the International Advisory Panel have been selected from leading experts around the world. All have specialist knowledge of developing successful skills and productivity policies. The majority of members are current directors of government departments or agencies from the world’s strongest or most highly productive economies, including the USA, Canada, Germany, China, Finland, Ireland, Norway, Belgium, The Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.

Research commissioned by Skills for Business shows that:

60% of employers admit that they have problems recruiting new employees with the skills they need
Almost three quarters of the general public agree that the gap between the skills we need and the skills we have among our workforce is growing

Only two in five businesses currently have a training plan that sets out the level and type of training employees will need to progress in the next twelve months

Professor Mike Campbell, Director of Strategy and Research at Skills for Business and one of the country’s leading labour market experts said, Our productivity figures show that the UK has much to learn from other countries about successfully training our workforce to meet the challenges of today’s highly competitive global marketplace. If our employers are really going to boost their productivity levels, then we need to learn from those countries that are currently outperforming us.

This was the key driver for Skills for Business establishing this panel of experts. By drawing on their expertise and knowledge of effective policies and practice in the skills arena, we will be able offer employers the most up-to-date and useful advice and support to help enhance the performance of their businesses.

To further reinforce the Panel’s expert credentials, representatives are also included from the International Labour Organisation, a specialist UN agency, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the European Commission..

One of the first tasks for panel members will be to review an International Policy Research Report which Skills for Business has commissioned from the Centre for Labour Market Studies (CLMS). There are also plans for selected panel members to speak at a Skills for Business conference in May 2006 on the subject of ’Meeting Future Skills Needs’.