Lack of basic skills costs economy £10bn a year

The
lack of basic skills among workers in the UK is costing the economy £10bn a
year in lost productivity, according to the TUC.

John
Monks, general secretary at the TUC, told delegates at the Association of Colleges’
Business Partnership conference today that the Government should help address
the problem by providing employers with incentives to improve the training of
their staff.

Monks
said that if the Government fails to intervene, the country will fall further behind its competitors.

The
conference heard that the percentage of the workforce in the UK with at least
level two qualifications is 54 per cent compared to 71 per cent in France and
82 per cent in Germany.

"One
in three British workers do not have basic qualifications and one in five have
problems with basic literacy and numeracy. This lack of basic skills costs our
economy £10 billion a year in lost productivity," he said.

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"There
are two major barriers for these workers to get trained – time and money. That
is why we and the CBI asked the Chancellor for government incentives to assist
employers with the cost of providing paid training leave for low qualified
staff and meeting the cost of tuition."

By Paul Nelson