Employers are struggling to find sufficient numbers of graduates with skills in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, reveals a new CBI/EDI report.
Nearly half (45%) of the 694 employers who took part in Ready to grow: business priorities for education and skills, predict demand for high level skills to grow as businesses move deeper into recovery and growth following the recession.
Meanwhile 30 per cent expect low level skill roles will decline in the next three years and 32 per cent expect to struggle to fill intermediate level jobs requiring skills equivalent to A level.
Desired skills in science, maths, technology and engineering
But 45 per cent of the businesses polled, representing 2.4 million employees, say they are already having difficulty recruiting staff with skills in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). Manufacturers and science-related businesses have the most difficulty finding highly-skilled people to fill their posts. Overall 59 per cent said they were concerned with finding STEM-skilled people in the next three years.
"As we move further into recovery and businesses plan for growth, the demand for people with high-quality skills and qualifications will intensify,” said Richard Lambert, CBI Director-General.
"In the future, people with qualifications in science and maths will be particularly sought after, and firms say it is already hard to find people with the right technical or engineering skills.
“The new government must make encouraging more young people to study science-related subjects a top priority. Businesses can help by showing that these skills lead to exciting and rewarding careers, helping to tackle the big challenges, such as climate change and energy security.”
Future tutoring opportunities
The survey is being published at a critical juncture in the economic and political cycle. Businesses are now planning for growth, and regard investment in skills as vital to improving productivity and performance.
Employers say they want to see the new government take action to prioritise action to improve these skills, but with government budgets under pressure, it likely that the demand will increase for publicly funded workforce training to deliver economically valuable skills.
STEM skills are not the highest priority for employers, however. While businesses are generally more satisfied with the employability of graduates significant problems still remain. Almost half (46%) are dissatisfied with graduates’ business and customer awareness, and a quarter are unhappy with graduates’ time management (26%) and problem solving skills (24%).
When it comes to A level subjects, employers said those that boost a young person’s job prospects are ones which improve business ability and knowledge of science and numeracy – namely, business studies (42%). After that they listed maths (21%), English (13%) and physics or chemistry (9%). The A levels employers rate least in terms of employability are psychology (3%) and sociology (1%).
Finally, the majority of employers want the government to ensure all young people leave school (70%) or university (81%) equipped with the employability skills they need to succeed in the workplace – such as the ability to communicate, work in a team, solve problems and apply basic knowledge learned at school, such as literacy, numeracy and IT, in a real world setting.
