Skills crisis is major barrier to success, warns report Region’s firms face difficult future without action now
BIRMINGHAM’S skills shortage is the biggest obstacle to economic growth the city faces, a major report warns this week.
The Birmingham Economic Review 2017 has been produced by the Chamber of Commerce and the University of Birmingham’s CityREDI, whose remit is to accelerate economic growth in the city region.
Though the survey said the city was more successful than most in terms of attracting inward investment, it warns the skills crisis is still a potential catastrophe for businesses.
The report found that Birmingham currently has above average employment in a number of sectors, including finance and insurance, education, public administration and defence.
There are also a number of major opportunities, including the new High Speed 2 (HS2) railway, the most significant transport project since the motorway network was built in the 1950s and 1960s.
The economic review says HS2 will have a substantial impact on the economic and transport environment in the region.
But Dr Catherine Harris, of CityREDI, warned that with Birmingham being the youngest city in Europe – with under-25s accounting for 40 per cent of the population – closing the gap between business and education was now crucial.
Dr Harris said: “Such a large population of under 25s in the city is incredibly exciting because these young people will become the workforce of tomorrow and represent a great amount of potential.
“However, a young population is only an asset if they are equipped with the skills and opportunities they need to succeed as they enter the local workforce.
“In practice, this means closing the gap between business and education to help develop a sound skills base, becoming more attractive to graduates so that we retain talent in the city, and working together to address unemployment and skills gaps across Birmingham.”
City-REDI colleague Professor Anne Green added that Birmingham had its fair share of high level skills due to several universities, but the big problem was in the area of intermediate and low skills.
She said: “Local and regional statistics show that in Birmingham and the West Midlands this long tail of low skills is more pronounced than nationally, and also that employment rates are lower than average.”
Judith Armstrong, chief executive of Millennium Point, said that the widening skills gap was a direct threat to Birmingham’s ‘innovative future’, which required a significant proportion of new roles requiring job specific higher-level skills and qualifications.
She added: “In addition to improvements driven by changes in the curriculum, we must collaborate to bridge this gap by investing in initiatives that raise awareness of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and encourage pursuit of it in education.”
A young population is only an asset if they are equipped with the skills they need to succeed Dr Catherine Harris, City-REDI,
Glenn Caton, president, Northern Europe, of Cadbury owner Mondelez International, one of Birmingham’s major employers, said much more needed to be done in his company’s sector.
He said: “We need schools to provide the basic skills in English and maths, as well as inspiring pupils into STEM subjects, and careers advisers to connect with businesses to provide alternative pathways. We recognise the value apprentices bring to our business and are committed to investing in a sustainable apprenticeship programme.
“In our business, apprentices are a vital pipeline of talent to help us close this skills gap. We are proud to employ 55 apprentices in the UK. But we still struggle to recruit people with the right skills.”