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Transcript of Generic Skills Survey 2003 Organisation Date. Presentation overview Project Outputs Employer...
Generic Skills Survey 2003
Generic Skills Survey 2003
OrganisationDate
Presentation overview Project Outputs
Employer Evidence– Skills needed– Attitudes to skills– Training behaviour
Household Evidence– Attitudes & barriers to employment– Attitudes to skills– Attitudes & barriers to learning & advice/guidance
Skills Gaps & Shortages
Some thoughts for discussion
Outputs: Employer and Household
All Wales - Area tables
Economic regions– Mid Wales– North Wales– South East– West Wales
UA tables
Objective 1 & 3 regions
SPSS data format and electronic versions of tables
The changing economic background
Welsh economy has grown since the first Future Skills Wales in 1998
– But growth has been slow– Indeed, 2001 was particularly difficult – Job declines in traditional industries– Service sector job rises– So economy is restructuring– Although still weighted towards more basic
occupations
Will affect levels and patterns of employers’ skill needs, gaps, shortages
Employers & their need for skilled people 70-80% of employers say that their workforces
currently need ‘high’ or ‘advanced’ levels of skills in the following areas:
– Understanding customer needs– Communication– Ability to follow instructions– Showing initiative– Team-working– Flexibility
This is from a scale of ‘not required’, ‘basic’, ‘intermediate’, ‘high’ and ‘advanced’
And employers say skill needs will rise Employers say that their skill needs will rise
The skills that will most be needed in 3 years’ time will generally be those most needed now
But, the largest increases will be in– IT– Managerial – Organising own learning & development– Welsh language– Leadership
Employer skills needs: current & future
0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0
Understanding customer needs
Communication
Ability to follow instructions
Adaptability/flexibility
Showing initiative
Team working
Ability to learn
Literacy
Numeracy
CurrentFuture
Source: Future Skills Wales Generic Skills Survey 2003
Employer skills needs: current & future
0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0
Problem solving
Leadership skills
Organising own learning and development
Management skills
IT skills
Entrepreneurial skills
Welsh language
Foreign language
CurrentFuture
Source: Future Skills Wales Generic Skills Survey 2003
Employer skills needs: relative growth
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
IT skillsManagement skills
Organising own learning and developmentWelsh language
Leadership skillsForeign language
Entrepreneurial skillsProblem solving
Ability to learnShowing initiative
Understanding customer needsAdaptability/flexibility
CommunicationTeam working
NumeracyLiteracy
Ability to follow instructions
Source: Future Skills Wales Generic Skills Survey 2003
Employers’ attitudes to investing in skills
Generally, employers have positive attitudes towards skills
– 95 per cent agree that skills are crucial to business success
Although many believe that current levels of skills are sufficient to meet their business needs
– And around 1 in 10 don’t even believe that investing in skills brings business benefits
Benefits to employers of skills investment
5%
7%
9%
15%
18%
23%
28%
35%
2%
2%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%
Better IT skills/ awareness
More understanding/ familiarity of business/product
Better trained staff
Increased morale
Introduce new products and/or processes
Grow the business faster
Raise profits
Compete on quality
Increased productivity
Compete on customer service
Source: Future Skills Wales Generic Skills Survey 2003
Employers’ training behaviour Relatively speaking, Wales does well
– More report barriers (time, cost) than in 1998– But 53% train at least some of their employees– Better than 1998 & than England (2001)
But many 47% still do not invest in off-the-job training
And considerable variation in training investment remains
– Bigger firms – Public sector – Skilled, professional, managerial occupations – Agriculture X– Less skilled occupations X
Off-the-job training by occupation
11%
7%
22%
10%
23%
30%
18%
24%
54%
0% 15% 30% 45% 60%
Elementary
Process, Plant and Machine Operatives
Sales and Customer Service
Personal Service
Skilled Trades
Administrative and Secretarial
Associate Professional and Technical
Professional
Managers and Senior Officials
Source: Future Skills Wales Generic Skills Survey 2003
When recruiting employers focus on:– Skills (83% important or fairly important)– Application process (76%)– Reputation of previous employer (71%)– Work experience (69%)
Qualifications rank least important (57% say important or fairly important) …… but employers still report lack of qualifications as a reason for hard-to-fill vacancies
Employers’ recruitment practices
Abilities of school, college and graduate recruits
49% of establishments recruiting school/college leavers report gaps between leavers’ skills and those needed by business
• Communication• Showing initiative• Numeracy• Literacy• Understanding and customer needs
33% of establishments recruiting graduates report skill gaps• Communication• Showing initiative• Work experience• Understanding customer needs
The Welsh people: positive about work
Wales: lower employment and higher inactivity than England
But 1/3 of Welsh residents who are out-of-work, would like paid employment
– A potential source of labour for the Welsh economy
They are especially keen to take up opportunities in
– Health and social work– Distribution, hotels and restaurants – Community, social and personal services
Less interested in Public admin and Financial services
Disability and ill-health hinder many people’s engagement with the labour market
– 17% of residents are hindered in the type of work they undertake
– And half of residents in workless households say that they are affected by ill-health and disability
Lack of qualifications are another problem– 21% of residents have no qualifications– 37% of workless have none– 14% of 16-24 year olds have no qualifications
(some because they haven’t got their results yet)
Some clear barriers to employment
Those in work say that their skills are much higher than employers need
Those out of work believe that their skills are slightly higher than those needed by employers
– Perhaps those without work don’t fully realise how demanding employers are?
– Possible need to provide better information /understanding to those out of work?
Especially since it is skills, not qualifications or experience that decide who actually gets a job
A more subtle barrier?
People have positive attitudes to skills Most people appreciate the need for greater
skills
Most people want to learn, to obtain formal qualifications and improve work-related skills
If in work they believe that– Their job requires greater skills than previously– They are more skilled than 3 years ago– And they get to use full range of skills at work
And people’s training experiences are mostly favourable:
– Increased confidence (56%)– Increased ability (49%), New skills (44%)
But beneath the generalisations… The desire to train is greatest amongst the higher
qualified, lowest amongst the unqualified
Managers and professionals have more positive attitudes to skills development than workers in elementary jobs
Older residents & those in low level occupations have particularly low participation in training/learning
– 2/3 older residents (55-64) were not involved in training in the last 12 months
– 3/4 of those without qualifications were not involved in learning in the last 12 months
Barriers to learning Actual training levels have not changed since
1998– 46% of residents have not been involved in any
form
Main barriers are– Lack of time– Family/childcare commitments
Traditional learning methods are generally preferred, but minority of those with no/low qualifications
– Prefer television and practical learning– Are less comfortable with classrooms /lectures and
computers/internet
May imply a need for delivery to be more customised?
Residents’ access to advice and guidance
People depend on informal as well as formal sources
– 18% say job centres/JobCentre Plus the most used source
– 14% say families and colleagues– 12% prefer to use the internet
Informal sources may be particularly weak for those living in communities with high unemployment, ill health, and poverty
Need for special support to these communities?
So: can employers get the skills they need? 22% of Welsh employers report having vacancies
– England 15%, Scotland 18%, NI 16%
But equivalent to just 2% of Welsh employment– Below the density for other nations
And fewer Welsh establishments report hard-to-fill vacancies than in 1998
– 14% compared with 30%
Half of these (7%) reflect skill shortages – 4% in England, Scotland and NI But again, smaller
% of employment than in England (0.5% and 0.8% respectively)
Impact of/responses to hard-to-fill vacancies
Consequences of hard-to-fill vacancies are– Loss of business to competitors (16%)– Inability to grow business (14%)– Loss of service quality (13%)– Loss of efficiency (13%)– Increased pressure on staff (13%)
Yet just 6 per cent of employers respond by providing training or personal development opportunities
– Most expand recruitment channels (40%)– Or expand geography of recruitment (11%)
Skills gaps Around 1 in 5 of employers have problems with
the skills of their workforces
– 19% report skills gaps– That’s below England (23%) but higher than
Scotland (16%) and NI (13%)
Main problem areas are: – IT (reported by 24% of employers with gaps)– Communication skills (21%)– Showing initiative (12%)– Problem solving (11%)– Ability to learn (10%)
Business impacts of skills gaps
Skills gaps harm competitiveness– Loss of quality of service (16%)– Loss of business to competition (16%)– Loss of efficiency (15%)
But many employers affected by gaps do respond:
– 56% provide training– 18% increase availability of apprentice /trainee
programmes
Some thoughts for discussion Skills needs rising, and for some skills fast growth…running to
stand still?
Employers have positive attitude but how best to encourage all firms to invest in trainign for less well skilled in lower occupations?
Encouraging employability and training for those with health and disability problems?
Stimulating desire for learning amongst the less well qualified and those employed in low level occupations?
Effectively targeting advice and guidance within deprived communities – positively influencing informal channels?
Encouraging adults, employed as well as young and entrants to labour market to take up advice and guidance opportunities in Wales
Encourage better assessment and self-assessment of generic skills
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