These are the findings of 2030 Skills: Closing the Gap, published by Make UK and Sage, a Newcastle-based enterprise software company, which found 58 per cent of companies planning to recruit engineering technicians and 61 per cent wanting to recruit production and process engineers.
In a statement, Paul Struthers, MD, UKI, Sage said: “UK manufacturers are going through a period of transformation adapting their traditional operations and adopting new technologies to be more digitally enabled, remain competitive and reduce costs. This evolution has created a need for more specialist, digital skills, required to maximise the benefits of technology.”
According to Make UK, the move towards the digitalisation of production processes has accelerated in recent months, with companies needing to recruit qualified technical engineers and data experts to ensure new automation is successful.
The new research found that over a quarter of companies (27 per cent) said they need to recruit data analysts and 11 per cent plan to employ data scientists, who are viewed as necessary to automate and drive their businesses forwards.
Many of these roles are in demand across the economy, and competition for talent is set to intensify in the critical development years leading up to 2030 with sustainability and automation at the heart of many companies’ strategic planning.
Half of manufacturers surveyed say they cannot source the talent their business needs locally and some 62 per cent reported they will not find it easy to ensure their businesses have the skills they need to power ahead to 2030.
Stephen Phipson, CEO of Make UK said: “To address the issue of labour shortages, which is now at critical point, government must ensure that the revised Shortage Occupation List is in place as soon as possible to plug the huge skills gap in data and digital technicians which are simply not available to employers from the domestic labour force.
“Government should also look to urgently create an Employer Training Fund, funded by a portion of unspent Apprenticeship Levy funds, to support the upskilling and retraining of existing employees in critical skills as well as providing support to bring through the next generation of talent through routes such as T Levels for manufacturers to train up straight from school.”
Make UK believes the introduction of a Training Investment Allowance would boost skills creation with a tax rebate on investment in training for manufacturers upskilling existing employees.
Half of manufacturers said offering flexible working helps them to recruit and retain workers and 90 per cent of businesses said they were able to offer flexible arrangements to non-production staff. However, over a quarter said they had to stick to rigid shift patters for their production staff.
Digital skills helped to keep Britain’s manufacturers open for business and switch regular production to PPE and ventilators during the pandemic. Make UK said this acceleration ‘must be supported to continue at pace to promote continued growth as the sector fights its way through the current global economic challenges.’
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