Young 'lack employment skills'

8:34am Thursday 3rd April 2008

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EMPLOYERS are struggling to find young people with the right skills for work in the West Midlands, suggests new research by the Learning and Skills Network (LSN).

The research reveals that when recruiting a school or college leaver, employers look for people who can read, write, do basic maths and show enthusiasm for work, above anything else.

Only 17.4 per cent of employers who had tried to recruit a young person said, however, that they have always been successful.

Many who failed to recruit a school or college leaver indicated it was because candidates lacked literacy or numeracy skills or did not have the right attitude to work.

The survey of 1,137 employers was carried out by YouGov on behalf of the LSN. A total of 102 employers from the West Midlands were interviewed from a wide range of industries, which contributed to nine per cent of the overall total.

The research report, Employability Skills Explored, was due to be launched by LSN at its Employability Skills evening reception last night.

The employers who took part in the survey in the region were asked what skills they would expect a young person who has just left school, college or a training scheme to have in order to be employable.

Seventy-four percent said timekeeping skills, 77.5 per cent said literacy skills and 74.5 per cent numeracy skills. When asked to rank a list of 14 skills in order of importance, employers in the area ranked communication skills first, literacy second and numeracy third.

Employers were also asked to identify "deal breaker" skills or the skills that, if not present, would prevent them from selecting a young candidate for a job. Forty-seven percent in the West Midlands named literacy skills as a deal breaker and 44.1 per cent said communication skills. Enthusiasm and commitment was named as a deal breaker by 45.1 per cent and 42.2 per cent of employers said numeracy was a deal breaker.

Those employers who found it difficult to recruit young people were then asked to name the skills that they found young people lacked and the ones cited most frequently, in rank order were:

Literacy

Numeracy

The right attitude

Communications

The survey also uncovered evidence of a generation gap in the recruitment of young people, suggesting that older recruiters are harder to convince that school and college leavers have the skills they are looking for.

Of the 1,137 employers interviewed, 62 per cent of employers aged over 55 said they could not recruit the young people they need for their business. By comparison, only 26 per cent of respondents in the 25-34 age bracket held the same view.

Commenting on the research, John Stone, chief executive, LSN, said: "Above all else, employers want young people who are looking for their first job to be literate, numerate and communicate well.

"Attitude is also important, employers want young job candidates to be good at timekeeping and show enthusiasm and commitment to work.

"This is a key issue that needs to be addressed if we are to equip young people with the skills they need for work and reduce levels of youth unemployment."