UK ‘faces worst skills shortage since Second World War’

BRITAIN is suffering its worst skills shortage since the Second World War, one of the world’s biggest recruiters has warned, as the jobs market turns to Tiktok and Instagram to attract Gen Z workers.

Riccardo Barberis, Manpower’s northern Europe chief, said a dearth of technological ability is making many workers “unemployable”. A major change in the skills needed for employment means companies are struggling to find talent to fill record vacancies.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Mr Barberis said: “Pre-covid they were unemployed, post-covid they are unemployable because the investment in technology that the companies are doing now, based on the Covid effects – digitisation [and] automation – are creating a new population of people that have to have the minimum tech requirements to enter the labour market.”

He said the Fortune 500 recruiter is investing in job adverts on social media sites including Tiktok and Instagram to reach younger generations amid the dearth of workers.

Employers are facing an extremely tight job market in the UK after unemployment fell to a near 50-year low of 3.7pc. Vacancies exceeded the number of unemployed in the UK for the first time ever, after soaring to record highs following the pandemic.

Manpower is trying to attract younger workers using social media platforms. Mr Barberis said: “We are investing a lot in technology so social media recruitment attraction strategies … Whatever tools on the social media we can use for the recruitment base. When it comes to [candidate] selection, we still want to have human interaction. We are using all the social media channels, Facebook or Tiktok, [it] depends on the culture of the country.”

Britain’s tight labour market is stoking fears of a wage-price spiral developing where higher pay feeds back in inflation, which is already at its highest level in four decades.