June 26th, 2006

1
The National Employer Skills Survey2005Main
findings for the South West Region
June 26th, 2006 Philip Roe BMG Research
Because People Matter
2
Main survey themes

• Demand for skills vacancies
• Availability of skills recruitment difficulty,
  skill shortages, and skill gaps
• Recruitment of young people
• Workforce development by employers

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Demand for skills - vacancies

• 17 of SW employers had a vacancy at time of
  survey
• 2.9 of SW jobs were vacant

4
Vacancy concentrations
SECTORS Retail, hospitality, financial services, construction, care
SIZE OF ESTABLISHMENT Small establishments (lt25 jobs) have 53 of vacancies but only a third of employment
LOCATION No great variation but marginally higher in West of England
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Occupational bias

• Intermediate and lower, not managerial/professiona
  l.

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High intensity vacancies

• Skilled trades and operators in engineering,
  general manufacturing, construction, food
  processing, and garages
• Sales staff in the retail sector
• Low grade staff in hospitality
• Care workers
• Technical staff in financial services and IT
  sector
• Teachers
• Nurses and technical staff in the health sector

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Recruitment difficulty

• Under a third of all vacancies in the South West
  (31) were hard-to-fill
• 55 of these were hard-to-fill for skill
  shortage reasons applicants lack required
  skills, experience, and/or qualifications
• Overall, 18 of vacancies were skill shortage
  vacancies

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Relation of recruitment difficulty to occupations

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Top ten hard-to-fill and skill shortage
vacancies
Hard-to-fill Low skill hospitality staff Skilled construction trades Sales staff in retail Care assistants Chefs Admin/clerical in financial services Garage mechanics Skilled engineering trades Skilled retail trades (butchers, bakers, etc.) Skilled land-based workers Skill shortage Skilled construction trades Chefs Care assistants Garage mechanics Bus drivers Admin/clerical in financial services Skilled land-based workers Skilled retail trades Civil engineers HGV drivers
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Trends in vacancies and recruitment difficulties,
2003-2005

South West England
Vacancies - 16 - 16
Hard-to-fill vacancies - 44 - 25
Skill shortage vacancies - 14 6
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South West compared with England, 2005

South West England
Vacancies as of employment 2.9 2.7
Hard-to-fill vacancies as of vacancies 31 35
Skill shortage vacancies as of hard-to-fill vacancies 57 70
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Broad labour market changes in South West,
2003-2005

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Skills gaps

2003 2003 2005 2005
SW England SW England
of establishments with skills gaps 23 22 15 16
Skills gaps as of employment 10 11 5 6
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Location of skill gaps

• 108,000 people in SW identified as not fully
  proficient
• A third of total in retail and hospitality
• Construction, engineering and care next highest
  sectors
• Fairly evenly distributed across different sizes
  of establishment

15
Skills gaps in relation to occupations

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Recruitment of young people

• Percent of employers recruiting.

South West England
16 year old school leaver 9 7
17-18 school/ College leaver 12 11
New graduate 9 9
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Prepared for work?

• Percent of recruiting employers saying poor or
  very poorly prepared for work.
• 16 year olds 24
• 17-18 year olds 19
• New graduates 10

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Why?

16 year olds 17-18 year olds New graduates
Lack motivation/ work ethic Lack of life/work experience Poor education/ general knowledge Lack motivation/ work ethic Lack of job-specific skills Lack of life/work experience Lack motivation/ work ethic Lack of business/ practical experience Lack of job-specific skills
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Training by employers

• Percent of employers supplying training.
• Percent of employees trained is the same for SW
  and England 35 off-the-job, 50 on-the-job
  (not additive)

2003 2005
South West 62 65
England 59 65
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Pattern of training

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Who gets trained and how?

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Use of Further Education Colleges

• Fewer employers which supply training used FE
  Colleges in 2005 than in 2003 (30 down from 33)
• More users satisfied with provision
• But.
• More significant dissatisfaction with
  construction and vehicle maintenance courses
• Twice as many employers use private providers
• Levels of satisfaction with private providers
  higher than for FE

23
Overview lessening of pressure on skills

• Slowing of growth, in-migration, and skills
  development combining to reduce pressure on
  skills
• An opportunity to concentrate on improvements in
  supply in key area.
• Which is technical/practical skills in
  construction, manufacturing, catering, retail

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Overview within-region disparities

• Evidence of weaker labour markets in South and
  West of the region.
• More vacancies
• Less training
• More recruits seen as de-motivated
• Supports the need for regional policy focus in
  least prosperous sub-regions

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Overview support to SMEs

• Small employers (with fewer than 25 staff)
• Have disproportionate numbers of vacancies,
  hard-to-fill vacancies, and skill shortage
  vacancies
• More frequently see young recruits as
  ill-prepared for work
• More likely to say that skills problems cause
  loss of business
• Less likely to train staff
• Supports the need for policy focus on small hard
  to reach businesses

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Overview Further Education

• Some negative messages on FE.
• Falling proportion of training employers using FE
• Significant dissatisfaction in some sectors
• 1 in 5 employers recruiting a 17-18 year old are
  dissatisfied with them
• Half of training employers say FE courses are not
  relevant
• Supports policy to make FE provision more clearly
  demand-led

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For further information, please contact Philip
Roe, Account Director Tel No 0121-333-6006 E-mai
l philip.roe_at_bmgresearch.co.uk
Because People Matter