During lockdown it became trendy for social media posts to say things like: “If you don’t come out of this without a new skill, you didn’t lack time, you lacked discipline.”
The sentiment annoyed a lot of people who said, not unfairly, that emerging with our health and wellbeing intact was more important.
However, job losses loom on a huge scale – the Office for Budget Responsibility predicts unemployment could hit 13% in the next few years, up from 4%. So the country must take a long hard look at what new skills workers need to be employable in the post-Covid-19 world.
The Government appeared to take steps in the right direction in acknowledging the problem this week when it announced a package including the “lifetime skill guarantee” which will pay for people to retrain.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it was time to drop the “pointless, snooty” distinction between academic and vocational qualifications.
I agree. In other countries, such as Germany, non-academic pathways are highly regarded. There, 20% of people hold vocational qualifications compared to 10% here.
The programme doesn’t start until next April and some critics say that’s too late. But regardless, it’s a positive move. I’m particularly worried about friends in their 50s who have lost jobs they’ve been in for many years.
Many don’t have the skills and desperately need to retrain. But, even when they do, where will the jobs they need come from?
The thing is, Britain does have a shortage of workers in several key industries including care, construction and nursing. All are on what’s called the “shortage occupation list”.
This week, the Migration Advisory Committee called for more jobs to be added to this list. It would allow employers to recruit workers from overseas without proving they tried to recruit British staff.
The problem with the sectors that have the most vacancies is they are among the worst payers.
According to the committee you get more from working in Aldi at £9.40 an hour than you do for working in the physically and mentally demanding care sector on pay of £8.72 an hour.
Surely the answer is to pay better wages to make those jobs attractive? If lockdown taught us anything, it was how invaluable key workers are. They are noble professions.
Let’s make working in those sectors attractive to everyone, from school leavers to the jobless middle aged. And start by paying them decent salaries.
