Chronic skills shortages will spell disaster for the UK’s construction and engineering sectors unless the Government accelerates young people’s training, chairman of training provider to the building services engineering sector JTL and Unite assistant general secretary Les Bayliss (pictured) warned during last month’s National Apprenticeship Week.
According to figures obtained via the Construction Skills Network, while overall apprentice numbers rose last year, there has been a marked drop in recruitment numbers in construction and engineering, which now have “the oldest workforce since the Second World War”. Les Bayliss said that, against this backdrop, both organisations were encouraged during National Apprenticeship Week by Government plans to “step up financial and logistical support, as well as exploring new ways of supporting employers in these difficult times”. Initiatives welcomed by both included the Future Jobs Fund, and the £1 billion “windfall on bankers’ bonuses”, which they say is being earmarked for jobs, training, and apprenticeships, for young people via the Government’s “Backing Young Britain” campaign. JTL added that, for every apprentice it places with an employer, it currently turns away two young applicants. Les Bayliss said: “At a time when school leavers are finding it tougher to find apprenticeships in construction, the most effective way for Government to intervene is to use its procurement power and leverage on public sector and infrastructure projects to make apprenticeships a priority. We want to see new and existing firms with long-standing and terrific records in investing in apprentices rewarded in future procurement and contracts within the public sector supply chain.” JTL and Unite’s ONS-sourced data reveals that over a third (36%) of workers in the construction industry were under 30 in 1990, compared with only a quarter today. In 1990, over 55s represented 11% of the workforce compared with 17% in 2007, while, although there has been a 20% growth in the construction workforce since the early 1990s, the number of older workers (aged 60 and over) has doubled. Ian Young, JTL public relations officer, added: “We generally find the NHS a willing employer of young engineering apprentices, but would value even more opportunities within hospital estates and building engineering teams. It is vital that good engineering skills are fostered and developed for the future.”
