Employers in Wales are more likely to provide staff with off-the-job
training than their English counterparts – with skills shortages halving as a
result.
A study of employers and staff in the principality has revealed that 53 per
cent of Welsh firms now offer training compared to just 35 per cent in England.
The research, which included interviews with 12,000 individuals and
businesses, also shows the number of vacancies rated as ‘hard-to-fill’ in Wales
has dropped from 30 per cent in 1998 to 14 per cent today.
The majority of staff in Wales were happy with their managers and 68 per
cent said their boss was a good people manager.
Three in four Welsh people believe they are now more skilled than they were
three years ago, although unqualified numbers are above the UK average.
The Future Skills Wales survey also highlighted a problem with school
leavers: employers have been complaining that youngsters do not possess the
most business-relevant abilities.
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The head of training, skills, careers and policy at the Welsh Assembly,
Richard Keveren, said that the information would help the authorities to more
easily identify learning gaps and plan better training.
