Skills shortage could hit future of UK engineering

Skills shortages in the manufacturing and engineering sectors could endanger the country’s economic recovery and even lead to companies going out of business, industry figures have warned.

“Companies have told us that hard-to-fill vacancies are holding back their growth,” said Professor John Bryson, chair of enterprise and economic geography at the University of Birmingham, which has just published research on the threat of skills shortages in the UK manufacturing industry.

“The skills issue is limiting the ability of firms to generate what will ultimately become tax revenue and export earnings,” he said.

Bryson said he was not surprised by the findings of the latest CIPD and KPMG Labour Market Outlook, which said 21 per cent of employers were hiring migrant workers to fill engineering posts.

“British manufacturing is reliant on recruiting skilled workers who are laid off by other firms or hiring migrant employees – and that gate is being shut rapidly by the government,” said Bryson.

“Unless the skills problem is managed, some firms will go out of business or move overseas.”
Recent figures from manufacturers’ organisation the EEF indicated that the number of companies recruiting in its sector had almost doubled over the past three months.

John Philpott, the CIPD’s chief economic adviser, said: “Clearly, if employers are not able to fill skilled vacancies this will put the brake on the economic recovery. ”

He also cautioned that the government’s intention to pare back its £6 billion scientific research support budget “could prove to be a false economy if the nation’s economy grows more slowly as a result”.

Siemens, which is involved in the launch of the first windpower technician apprenticeship scheme this month, and has partnered the University of Lincoln to open the first new School of Engineering in 20 years, said there would be a demand to fill thousands more UK engineering roles by 2020.

“There is a need to develop an estimated 50,000 skilled engineers, project managers, construction supervisors and craft workers nationally over the next 10 years,” said Mike Jones, Siemens’ HR director for the energy sector in the UK and northwest Europe.

“But if the UK is going to meet the needs of the new energy age, the private sector must find a more joined-up approach of working with the government and educational establishments.”

Source People Management