The Confederation of British Industry’s head will address the current state of the UK labour market and the struggles it faces with ongoing shortages in a speech to the Recruitment and Employment Confederation’s Annual Conference.
In the speech, Lord Karan Bilimoria, president of the CBI, will identify a combination of factors, ranging from the job retention scheme to European Union workers not returning to the UK amid the coronavirus crisis.
CBI believes that it is important to ramp up training, reform the Apprenticeship Levy and to create new technical education routes into careers. Firms must continue to strengthen inclusion and invest in skills and automation, the long-term solutions to shortages.
The business lobby group also believes that the government should immediately update the shortage occupations lists for roles including butchers, bricklayers, and welders to protect the competitiveness of the UK’s economic recovery.
It also called for the alignment of immigration and education policies to help workers gain the skills that are needed to fill roles that are in shortage.
Lord Bilimoria is expected to say: “It’s a big challenge, not just for individual businesses, who can’t find the people they need, but also for our longer-term economic recovery. We’ve got a perfect storm of factors coalescing.
“We’ve identified two big things the UK government can do straight away, to help make sure the UK is open for business, and to get our economic recovery on the right track. First – we need the government to immediately update the ‘Shortage Occupation List’.
“But it’s really important to stress – workers from overseas aren’t, and shouldn’t be, our only response to labour shortages. Investing in skills here, too, is vital. It’s not an either/or choice. We must do both to ensure our firms have the access to people they need to succeed.”