Careers in manufacturing must be marketed to women to tackle skills shortages

RA Now

Business and government are not doing enough to market careers in the manufacturing industry to women, despite the sector suffering the worst level of skills shortages, according to a recruiter in the sector.

A report from the UK Commission for Employment and Skills found that while the number of job vacancies in England has returned to pre-recession levels, vacancies where there are skills shortages are growing twice as fast.

Companies reported a total of 559,600 job vacancies in England – up 45% per cent from 2009. However, skills shortage vacancies nearly doubled over the same period, increasing from 63,100 to 124,800. 

The sharp rise in skills shortages could be holding back the UK’s economic recovery, the survey of more than 90,000 employers found.

Beatrice Bartlay, recruitment expert in manufacturing and shopfitting, said: “Manufacturing in all sectors, from shop-fitting to automobile engineering, is going to be the key industry that really gets us out of financial difficulty.

“Today there is a huge opportunity for more women to fill the skills gap, both as those on the shop floor and those running the businesses, but there is very little being done by the government or industry to promote the markets to women as ones that are growing and in desperate need of talent.”

She added that the industry needs role models. “Those women who are in non-‘traditional’ positions – from welders to electricians – should be encouraged to come forward and share their stories to inspire diversity.”

Overall, skills shortage vacancies now account for more than one in five of all vacancies (22%) up from one in six (16%) in 2009. Top of Form

Douglas McCormick, a commissioner at UKCES and managing director of the UK rail business at Atkins, a design, engineering and project management consultancy said there is a real possibility that businesses might not be able to make the most of the upturn because they don’t have the right people. 

“This shows that businesses need to start thinking about planning their talent pipeline now – not waiting until they are unable to fulfil contracts because of a lack of skilled staff,” he added.

“Worryingly, these figures show that the percentage of staff in the UK receiving training from their employer hasn’t changed significantly for a decade. There are also signs that some employers might be trying to solve their skills problems by choosing to recruit highly-skilled and qualified staff to do very basic jobs.”

The report also found that while the number of establishments providing training for their staff is back to pre-recession levels, the amount spent on training has decreased from £1,680 per employee in 2011 to £1,590 in 2013.