Skills, skills and more skills. Few people would argue that for the UK to thrive in the 21st century it needs a highly skilled workforce. The question is, where will those workers come from?
That question is especially relevant to companies operating in engineering and technology sectors, where putting up an ad in the local job centre at the minimum wage is not an option. They need the right people with the right background and the right skills.
Sometimes, those people will come from outside the region of the UK in which the company is based, from elsewhere in the EU or from another continent altogether. The important things is that the company gets the skilled employees it needs to succeed.
So far so uncontroversial. Except it isn’t. There is no hotter political potato than immigration, and the issue is back on the agenda with confirmation from the government that a new points-based system for working in the UK will come into effect next year.
According to ministers, the system will provided a simplified and more effective way to match those allowed into the UK with demand for skilled employees that cannot be met internally.
The announcement of a government initiative on immigration just before local council elections may well be designed to help the political fortunes of the Labour Party, but the government needs to be extremely careful in this area.
The final say on what does and does not count as a genuine gap in skills will be made by the Home Office, or at least a body set up to decide on its behalf.
But the best people to judge whether or not there is a skills gap are the people doing the hiring. In an increasingly globalised high-technology economy, denying people the chance to work here is a risky strategy for the UK. Attracting the best people from around the world is a sure-fire way to help the UK develop international centres of excellence in technology-based industries. Nothing the government does should get in the way of that process.
Andrew Lee
Editor
I rarely agree completey with any editorial comment – but this one is spot-on.
We are a high end commercial cabling/loom company. Our industry has virtually no recognizable professional training structures – 99% of training is managed in-house. We start with unskilled staff, with the correct attributes, and (after undoing the damage done by the UK’s formal education system) we then spend up to two years developing their skills to the high standard needed. After trying desperately to recruit locally, and failing, we now have around 25% of our technician staff from overseas. This has helped us to prosper in an increasingly demanding and hostile sector. Without them? Who knows?
Where will all the skilled workers come from? How about all the unemployed over 50’s who are wondering how they’re going to keep the government happy / earn a decent pension by working until they’re 70? I’m a highly qualified, experienced engineer (post-graduate qualifications / Chartered Engineer) and I’ve been unemployed for over a year. And I know I’m not alone!
Although I agree that in some sectors there is a shortfall in people with the required skills, I do not think that looking outside the UK is the best way to overcome the situation. It is my opinion that the government and companies should be concentrating on training and providing adequate facilities to do so. I think that most people would agree with this and it is the wage / economic factor in this that makes the issue, and not lack of skills within the UK.
I would urge caution on suggesting that “nothing should get in the way of immigration”! We have a serious congestion problem in this country – traffic levels almost at bursting point at certain times, housing shortages, etc etc. We MUST introduce much stricter rules on those who want to come to this country. Many of us believe that too many are allowed in – and then allowed to stay while they fight against the decision to turn their immigration appeals down when unsuccessful. Some of us actually care for issues other than pure economics and productivity – such as having some countryside left to enjoy etc! If we accept that there is a need for some asylum seekers to be allowed here, and some need for appropriately qualified folk to assist our economy, then fine, but given the (small) size of this country perhaps there is a “natural” limit to just how big our economy will be allowed to get versus how many folk can actually live here without completely destroying the quality of life so many former generations have worked so hard to give us?
Alistair Brodie