Britain's scandalous skills gap will hold back business

Shortcomings in Britain's approach to education mean that the lack of skilled workers is a serious problem for British industry.

Britain is "doing all the globalisation stuff" better than its main economic competitors, but its lack of skilled workers remains a serious problem, says Sir Digby Jones. The Confederation of British Industry's outgoing director-general says that half of UK school-leavers are ill-equipped to enter the jobs market.

"It is the responsibility of business to train people for specific roles and to help retrain for other work, but kids have got to come out of school being able to read and write," he told Christine Buckley of The Times. With six million people in the workforce below the standards of literacy (and 17 million without the grasp of numeracy) expected of an 11-year-old, "business is still spending a small fortune on what is essentially remedial education", the paper comments. Much basic manufacturing has moved to lower-cost countries, so most UK jobs demand greater skill levels than they once did.

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