Skill Shortage In Leeds
It is no secret that if you want to get ahead in your chosen career, that having a degree is really going to help you to get where you want to be. However, whilst academic qualifications are covered, it appears that this is to the detriment of those work-based skills.
Work based skills are a key part of stepping into your chosen career. In fact, it has actually become recognised that skill shortages are causing an ever-expanding gap in the jobs market, which means that those who have left school recently, or who have gone on to attend university, are finding it hard to get on their chosen career path. This is despite a big drive to improve how school, college and university leavers move into the working world.
In order to discuss this issue further and try to make appropriate changes which will address the skills gap, a conference has been arranged which will bring together academics, speakers and business leaders all from the local area. All to discuss how education and business can work together to help those who are making the transition between the two different worlds.
Not only this, but Leeds City Council and the University of Leeds have also come together to announce plans to host a “Young People, Skills and Prospects in Employment” event.
The Leeds three-tier employment system
One of the biggest issues that faces those looking to start their working career in Leeds is the three-tier employment system. In the area, there are a high number of low-skilled jobs and roles that sit within the hospitality and customer service sectors. As well as this, there are a number of job opportunities which sit within the highly skilled area such as within management, financial and legal firms.
These two tiers sound great, right? Of course this does present plenty of job opportunities to those in Leeds, but it is the middle section that is suffering. There is a definite gap within this part of the triangle. Which means that fewer jobs are being created to those qualified school-leavers, graduates with degrees, or anyone else who is looking for a role who has qualifications.
This gap means that those people either have to choose not to enter work and instead enter unemployment until the right role comes up. Or, they choose a job role that fits into the lower tier of employment, which could mean that they feel that they have wasted the time studying, just to take on such a low paid role.
One thing that has become clear with the jobs market for those leaving education, not just in Leeds, but across the UK, is that something has to change. With the gap opening up in the skills market, the last thing that we want is for those choosing their career path, particular at the ages of 14 and 15, is to feel that they will waste their time if they do choose to progress their education further rather than going straight into work.