Four million UK employees are now covered by the skills pledge after Tube-owner Transport for London (TfL) signed up today.
Almost 4,000 firms have now made the pledge to train all their workers in basic skills, such as GCSE level maths and english.
Employers were initially hesitant to sign the pledge, launched by the government last year in the wake of the Leitch Review.
Leitch said the proportion of adults holding five good GCSEs or a vocational equivalent needed to rise from 69% in 2005 to more than 90% by 2020 for the UK economy to avoid being run over by the stampeding emerging economies of China and India.
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Skills minister David Lammy said today: “Through the skills pledge, TfL underlines its commitment to ensuring all its staff have the opportunity to access new training, which is relevant to their jobs and particularly important in the run-up to the 2012 Games.
“Every employee has the potential to contribute to business performance and improve standards of customer service, but this potential can only be unlocked if every employee can access high-quality training.”
