Business News - May 2008

Skills Gap

With school and college students preparing to start the summer term and sit final examinations, the CBI has published the results of a new annual audit of the nation’s skills.

The 'CBI/Edexcel Education & Skills Survey 2008' of 735 firms, employing 1.7 million people between them, has identified apparent skills gaps in the workplace and reveals the skills that employers value the most.

The CBI report shows that over half of employers (53%) lack confidence in their ability to find enough people with the right skills for their business. Also worrying is the apparent lack of basic skills, such as the ability to read, write and do simple maths, which are still a major cause for concern.

The CBI’s Deputy Director-General, John Cridland, said:

‘A worrying number of employers have little confidence that they will be able to plug their skills gaps. In our new stock take of the nation’s skills, too many firms also say poor basic skills are hampering customer service and acting as a drag on their business’s performance’.