After facing criticism that worker knowledge has dropped off in the manufacturing sector, the business secretary has unveiled new skill building plans.
Vince Cable recently spoke at the annual conference for the Confederation of British Industry, reassuring members that the skills workers need to excel in the manufacturing sector and related fields will soon be inculcated now in order to ensure success by both 2020 and 2030. Many firms have had to rely on using umbrella company contractors and other highly skilled interim workers in order to compensate for the skills shortage, placing pressure on the temporary worker sector as firms need to fill crucial roles on very short notice to complete projects on time, and the business secretary says that knowledge levels must be increased to create a more stable workforce for the future need of the country.
Large manufacturing firms have been beating down the door to his department in an almost constant stream, said Dr Cable, who added that these companies are extremely concerned about the availability qualified and skilled engineers dwindling down to nothing. This has led the business secretary to prioritise the addressing of the problem, he added.
The need for increased skillsets for the tech worker population is quite urgent, according to the Centre for Economics and Business Research, especially as the Centre has predicted the finance sector will be eclipsed by the tech sector as soon as 2015 as the primary industry in London.
