06/05/09

Post-recession Welsh growth must be far stronger than before - says milestone jobs and skills report

Wales' private sector must grow more strongly than it has done for generations if the nation is to recover properly from recession and become the economic equal of the rest of the UK, according to a landmark report.

The report, entitled "A Wales that Works", calls on the Assembly Government to give the highest possible priority to transforming the Welsh economy and to focus its skills policies firmly upon fuelling a ‘dynamic private sector,' with particular emphasis on developing skilled people for specific post-recession growth industries.

The document argues that the various public policies for skills, jobs and business development all need to be integrated further with each other, and the different departments of national and local government need to plan together in a ‘whole Government approach' in order to weather the current crisis and achieve the necessary transformation.

The report is the first prepared by the Wales Employment and Skills Board (WESB), the body set up last year to give employers a stronger voice in creating public policy, to advise ministers on jobs and skills and to help Wales develop a high-skilled economy.

 It says the recent Wales Economic Summits, called in response to the recession, have created an important new model of co-operation that must continue and grow.

In launching the report today (May 6th), Sir Adrian Webb, chairman of WESB said: "Wales must emerge from this recession on a much stronger upward trend than before. Despite all the hard work put in, the Welsh economy has been seriously underperforming that of the UK for decades. Before the recession it was performing at a level that cannot be seen as acceptable. A fundamental transformation is needed and developing the right mix of skills is critical to achieving that."

He pointed out that, traditionally, Wales has had a larger public sector than other parts of the UK, but the balance now needs to tilt heavily towards private sector growth if badly-needed jobs are to be created. Moreover, he warned that the impact of the current crisis on government finances was likely to restrict public sector job creation for many years to come.

He welcomed recent figures showing faster jobs growth in Wales' private sector between 2000 -2007 and said this trend must resume at even greater pace in the post-recession era.

Sir Adrian, who is former vice-chancellor of the University of Glamorgan, presented the Board's report and recommendations this morning to Deputy First Minister and Minister for the Economy and Transport, Ieuan Wyn Jones, and Deputy Minister for Skills, John Griffiths.

WESB, which is made up of representatives from private industry, trade unions, the public sector, training providers and the academic world, says it is essential that businesses in Wales become more ambitious for growth and that Wales becomes a place where major firms want to locate their HQ and research facilities, and not just their branch operations.

Its report argues that, although the public and voluntary sectors perform a vital role, the majority of new post-recession jobs will have to come from the private sector. Consequently public investment in skills must be targeted at industries that will transform the Welsh economy. "There is no point in stockpiling skills and qualifications if they are not needed and used in the economy," the document states.

The WESB inaugural report calls for a ‘twin-tracked approach' that will provide the high-level skills employers need for growth while also tackling Wales' serious basic skills deficit and employability gap.

It calls for more public and private investment in Welsh research and development and even greater transfer of knowledge from higher and further education into the commercial sector. Alongside this there should be more support to raise management and leadership skills in order to encourage and equip more companies to go for growth.

In terms of basic skills and employability, the document points that a recent survey by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills showed 63% of Welsh employers were concerned that schools and colleges fail to supply the market with enough ‘job ready' young people. This compares with only 48% of employers in Scotland, 49% in England and 50% in Northern Ireland.

It adds that giving pupils employability skills must become a central mission throughout the education system. For example, in the case of schools, it states: "fostering employability, including the right attitudes, should be as important as the proportion of pupils achieving A-C grades at GCSE."

The report argues that schools and colleges need to give more status and support to teachers with specialist skills in helping youngsters with literacy problems and that there should be more training to tackle the shortage of basic skills tutors for adults.

Sir Adrian commented: "The Assembly Government must drive this agenda hard because employers are warning us that there will be a high cost in lost opportunity if we do not address the basic skills problem as early as possible."

Despite the pressure placed on the public purse by the current recession, the WESB report warns the Assembly Government and companies not to cut skills investment. In particular it argues that funds should be made available to protect apprenticeships because redundancies among these trainees would cause major loss of future skills to the economy.

Supporting its overall call for a ‘Whole Government' approach to economic transformation, WESB makes six key recommendations to Ministers:

 

  • Urgent action to eliminate Wales' basic skills and employability deficit
  • Funding to stimulate research, innovation and knowledge transfer
  • Action to boost management and leadership skills
  • Greater flexibility for Wales to develop its own employment policies
  • The creation of skills and employment initiatives that are more targeted at specific needs in the economy
  • An overall increase in funding for skills development during the recession

The WESB report will be considered by the Assembly's cabinet sub-committee on June 1st

For more info on WESB please visit the website: www.learningobservatory.com/wales-employment-skills-board-wesb/