Workers
could be hired from overseas in less than 20 years time because of a
"manpower crisis" facing the manual trades, according to a new
report.
Research
by Dulux Trade shows that few school-leavers were interested in a manual trade,
with painting and decorating at greatest risk from a lack of new recruits.
A
survey of 1,000 youngsters found that fewer than 5 per cent were considering
becoming decorators, bricklayers, electricians, joiners or plumbers.
The
preferred professions were mainly office-based jobs, computer programming,
teaching, law or journalism.
Most
of those questioned said they had not considered a career in decorating, often
because it sounded boring or lacked prestige.
Computer
programming and other IT-based work were the favoured careers for boys, while
teaching was the preferred profession for girls.
Experts
at Dulux Trade said decorating firms would be forced to hire qualified staff
from abroad by the year 2020 if current trends continued.
Steve
Snaith, customer marketing manager at Dulux Trade, said the industry could be
facing problems in the coming years.
"At
the moment a customer will have no problem finding a trained and reliable
professional decorator, but I’m, not sure if that will be the case in the
long-term future.
"Decorating
is a highly skilled trade that is in great demand. That message is not reaching
young people thinking about a career."
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