The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
14,950 eligible to work in city have no qualifications
Almost 15,000 workers and job seekers in Peterborough do not have a single qualification according to new figures.
It means that 14 per cent (14,950) of Peterborough’s 107,100 people who are eligible to work – equivalent to one in seven – do not have any qualifications triggering concerns that not enough is being done to widen people skill levels.
But the statistics have prompted one business leader to warn that they do not highlight a ‘lost generation’ and that everyone, regardless of qualifications, still has plenty to offer.
The 2021 Census figures have been released by the Office for National Statistics and also show that 12 per cent had at least one GCSE or equivalent qualification while 14.9 per cent had five or more GCSEs at A* to C to levels nine to four.
Some 18.6 per cent had two A-levels or equivalent, and 32.1 per cent had a degree or highereducationqualification.The figures show the Peterborough workforce ranks 38th in the East of England and 313th across England and Wales.
Hannah Slaughter, senior economist at the Resolution Foundation, said: “Policy makers and firms need to do far more both to boost and broaden people’s skills and qualifications.”
She added: “The stark qualifications divide uncovered by the census will have worsened already damaging pay and income gaps between places across Britain.”
Vic Annells, chief executive of Cambridgeshire Chamber of Commerce said: “I left school without A Levels or O Levels. Everyone still has plenty to offer and they are not worthless – this is not a lost generation.”