Unite calls for government action to tackle skills gap
1 min read
The UK economy is facing a dire engineering skills gap and needs 87,000 new engineers a year over the next decade, a report by Unite the union has warned.
Launched in parliament, the Engineering excellence - a charter for UK engineering report urges the government to do more to support engineering and calls for an 'engineered in Britain, bought in Britain' approach to public procurement.
The report goes on to call for companies to shorten supply chains and reshore jobs back to the UK to ensure they fulfill customer demands more quickly and flexibly, as well as for the creation of a government backed strategic investment bank to support engineering.
Linda McCulloch, national officer at Unite, said: "We need urgent action to close the engineering skills gap to ensure we rebalance the economy and have sustainable growth.
"As our report suggests a lack of a joined up, robust industrial policy means the UK is still excessively reliant on service sector jobs and is contributing to the creation of a low wage, low skilled economy.
"To develop a strong economy we need a strong engineering base. The government needs to do more by pursuing an 'engineered in Britain, bought in Britain' policy. It also needs to create a strategic investment bank that backs engineering and manufacturing."
The full report can be downloaded below.
