The Training Scandal

The shortage of skilled labour has been almost a persistent complaint by many employers in manufacturing industry during much of the past thirty five years. Even during the depths of the recession some companies still found it hard to recruit and retain the qualified workers that they wanted for their production needs. ‘The value of training is not generally recognised or accepted in Britain’,1 complained Sir Richard O’Brien, the chairman of the Manpower Services Commission, to a meeting of the National Economic Development Council in November 1980. ‘It is costly, the pay-off may take a long time and employers’ perspectives are often short. Not enough training is done: much that is done is misdirected or wasted. As a result many people are less productive at work and derive less reward from their work than they might. Although there are many examples of excellent training our performance overall is patchy and our arrangements inflexible’. Likely developments over the next few years do not suggest our training system is going to improve radically. Indeed, there are signs that it could worsen, ensuring a chronic shortage of skilled workers during an economic upturn. The low priority given to training by our society until recently is nothing short of scandalous because there can be no doubt that lack of appropriately skilled manpower remains a serious obstacle to Britain’s future economic growth.