UK to launch review into labour market to combat skills deficit, but expert warns more help is needed

The UK government has announced plans to lead a review into the labour market – aiming to tackle the country’s worst skills shortage on record. The ambitious plans are targeted at growing a high-productivity, high-wage economy that builds a foundation for economic prosperity across the nation. The issue of increasing wages is of particular importance as the UK battles with rising inflation rates and the cost-of-living crisis. This, coupled with fears of a recession by the end of the year, has created a sense of urgency to expand the highly-skilled workforce, with MP Matt Warman leading the government’s new plans in this area.

The need for the government’s review is evident, with a unique study commissioned by JPIN, revealing that 36% of the UK workforce believe the lack of skilled workers is currently the biggest challenge for businesses. A further 26% stated that specifically a lack of tech capabilities within companies is hindering their growth opportunities.

Although Britain’s talent pool has long been one of the most diverse, businesses are currently facing extreme difficulties when trying to fill skilled roles. Industry expert, Gaurav Singh, explains that while the government’s plan to upskill more homegrown talent is a step in the right direction, the UK will also need to look further afield to fill this current gap in business operations. This urgency is clearly highlighted in the government’s plans to introduce the High Potential Individual Visa (HPI) on May 30, which is aimed at bringing high-skilled foreign university graduates into the country to fill the talent deficit.

Outlining possible solutions, Singh says that the world’s leading emerging markets actually hold some of the most dynamic talent pools in the world. For example, India’s 1.39 billion population has given rise to some of the most sought-after workers and entrepreneurs of this generation. This is a result of the nation’s booming technology sector which has grown through not only an illustrious array of innovation, but more importantly through skill and leadership. This is reflected by the fact that currently, 25% of worldwide engineers are from India, while a majority of the world’s most influential CEOs from Twitter, Adobe, Microsoft, Alphabet and Mastercard – among many others – hail from the economic powerhouse.

Key Statistics:

36% of the UK workforce believe the lack of skilled talent is the biggest problem that businesses are facing
31% of the UK workforce believe their place of work has a shortage of talent in the IT sector
26% of the UK workforce believe the lack of tech capabilities is holding back the growth of their business

Gaurav Singh, founder of JPIN, comments:

“While the government’s desire to slowly grow a highly-skilled workforce is a step in the right direction, it may not be enough to overcome Britains’ potential economic recession which is projected to hit by the end of the year.

“With innovation deriving from so many different countries in today’s global economy, there is an extensive surplus of talent that can assist with alleviating the recruitment pressures Britain currently faces. Right now, we’re seeing tech as the key ingredient for growth and expansion – so a shortage of workers in this particular area is definitely hitting businesses hard.

“I suspect that a combination of upskilling homegrown talent as well as leaning on the pillars of other thriving economies will help with combating the skills shortage. It certainly looks as though this is the UK’s strategy – especially by introducing the HPI Visa scheme, which will help bring in talent from other countries to fill the current gap.”