There are not enough skilled workers in the Thames Gateway to fill the number of jobs being created there, a Government report has warned.
The Skills Audit report found the number of people with skills in the area is 20 per cent below the national average. The report warned that unless the problem was addressed, businesses could be forced to relocate.
The Thames Gateway is a 40-mile-wide area east and south-east of London.
The report said that 112,000 of the 194,000 new jobs that will be created by a redevelopment programme in the next 12 years will need applicants with A-level and degree-level qualifications.
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“Compared to the rest of London and other parts of the UK, the Thames Gateway has a significant skills and jobs gap – particularly among local residents,” the report said.
A key challenge for the Government was to raise the “skills levels of existing residents”, it concluded.
