Yahoo Finance British workers more skilled than ever – but in the wrong things
Britain is full of highly educated workers with skills that do not match the jobs available, meaning a large chunk of the labour force is failing to match its potential, a new report has found.
As many as 40pc of workers are either overskilled or underqualified for their jobs, while 40pc are also working in industries or jobs which are different from the area in which they trained, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has warned.
Companies put too little effort into training workers in the right skills, and should also work more closely with the education system to ensure school pupils and college and university students end up with the required abilities, the OECD said.
In particular workers often lack verbal, cognitive reasoning, social and complex problem-solving skills, and there is a shortage of those trained in maths, sciences, technology and engineering.
And the problem is getting worse as companies cut back their training budgets.
Mark Pearson, at the OECD, said: “Skills mismatch is very high in the UK compared with other countries, not just high when you look at it historically."
It appears to be a cultural problem in Britain: “We could be talking about these issues 30 or 40 years ago, and if you want to be really pessimistic you can go back to the 1890s when people were talking about the same sorts of issues in the UK. These are long-term challenges.”
The OECD said that “a lot is going right” in the UK, with record low unemployment and a very large number of students gaining high-level qualifications.
But more needs to be done to make those qualifications relevant to work, and to keep training people who are in work to make sure their skills improve and do not become outdated.
“It is not just up to the learners to ensure they have the skills to meet demand, employers also need to take responsibility for training their workers,” said OECD labour market economist Katharine Mullock.
“There is evidence the share of employees receiving job-related training has declined over the last 15 years in the UK, and that it is low relative to other OECD countries.”
She suggested that unions should also be more involved in designing training to make sure it does not merely suit a worker to the task of the day at their employer, but helps to boost their career over a longer timeframe.
“The main priority for the UK should be lifelong learning. It is really important individuals have the opportunity and incentive to upskill and re-train, [learning skills] that are not attached to a particular employer,” Ms Mullock said.
Workers can get loans for training courses, but the OECD believes these are inflexible – workers might prefer only to take the modules of the course which are most relevant, but loans currently can only be used for entire qualifications.
Ms Mullock added that employers should be more engaged in careers advice at school and universities to make sure pupils and students have a realistic idea of the types of jobs available and the training they need to get them.
Meanwhile the Institute for Public Policy Research proposed expanding the apprenticeship levy into a productivity and skills levy, raising a £1.1bn fund from businesses to train workers across the country, particularly in less productive areas.
The think-tank also wants a personal learning credit to be set up, effectively giving low-paid, low-skilled workers a £700 account which they can use to invest in training to further their careers.
On top of that a £2,000 version could be given to those made redundant, in an effort to stop industrial decline becoming a blight in particular regions.
