CBI: COUNTRY NEEDS TO SKILL UP
THE country faces a “stark choice” between investing in workers’ skills and lifelong learning or suffering sustained rates of high unemployment, the CBI has warned.
The business group said nine out of 10 people will need new skills by 2030 to support the future economy, requiring an additional £13billion a year.
Research carried out before the virus crisis showed there was an urgent need to go further and faster than the Prime
Minister’s lifetime skills guarantee, said the CBI.
The CBI said its analysis also showed failure to invest in skills will harm the livelihoods of the most disadvantaged, as participation in training by those in lower-skilled jobs most at risk of automation is 40 per cent lower than that for higher-skilled staff.
CBI director- general Dame Carolyn Fairbairn said: “Ensuring people can adapt to the changing world of work will be one of the most important missions this country embarks on in the next decade.”