Member Article

?Businesses must help plug skills gap? - Aspire

More must be done to encourage skilled young people to stay in the North East, culture change programme Aspire warns businesses in a new phase of campaigning.

60% of the region’s young people think the area holds no career prospects for them, and plan to leave to get a good job. However, 27% of companies in the region are currently advertising IT vacancies, 1000 people will be needed in the North East biotechnology industry in the next three to five years, and around 5000 new jobs are being created in the health sector over the next five years.

Aspire’s message is that every business has a responsibility to begin working with schools and colleges, in however large or small a way, to bring students into the world of work whilst still in the education system. Pioneered by the NECC and CBI, the business-led initiative is a private-public partnership funded by One North East, the Learning and Skills Council and Connexions to mobilise the business community to roll its sleeves up to foster a better workforce of the future.

At the top of employers’ agendas are stronger basic skills in literacy and numeracy, communication and technology - less than 50% of students in the North East achieve five GCSEs at A to C grade, according to data from One NorthEast. However many of the skills shortages being cited by businesses are in fact ‘soft skills’ that can only be learned in a real working environment.

Aspire board member and new North East Chamber of Commerce chief executive James Ramsbotham said: “If it wasn’t for the influx of labour from Eastern Europe which has filled over 40,000 job vacancies, we would have two vacancies for every job seeker. Even without that fact we still have more vacancies than job seekers and it’s young people leaving schools who should be filling these posts, but they can’t do that without our help. If we can’t fill current vacancies what will we do about the 70,000 jobs the One NorthEast Regional Economic Strategy promises to deliver by 2016?

“Every single business in this region can do something to be an Aspire ambassador – from hosting a simple work experience programme to creating their own apprenticeship scheme, taking a year in industry placement, to forging links with the school just around the corner – the business case is clear. They will gain not only an immediate and affordable labour resource for their business in some cases, but will create a sustainable flow of skilled and business savvy young people into their company and the wider local economy for years to come.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .