The skills crisis is a myth, according to ConstructionSkills. Deputy chairman Peter Rogerson told a House of Commons select committee on construction last month: ‘There are pinch points but no overall lack. Generally, the recruitment target is being met.’

Rogerson said ConstructionSkills was meeting its yearly target of 87,600 skilled recruits through a variety of sources, including colleges and universities, migrants and other areas such as the armed forces.

Yet in the same month, we hear that apprenticeship numbers must double to 14,000 by 2012 to tackle the skills crisis. The Cross-Industry Task Force on Apprenticeship Numbers has called on more employers to help.

On average 50,000 young people a year apply for apprenticeships, but ConstructionSkills only placed 7,000 this year, compared with 9,500 the previous year. Only 4% of the industry’s 185,000 companies employ an apprentice.

In a bid to get more employers involved ConstructionSkills introduced programme-led apprenticeships this year under which trainees do a year full-time at college and then they are matched with an employer. This way, employers will only be supporting them for 12 to 18 months.

Apprenticeships will form a key part of the government’s strategy to keep children in education until they are 18.

But if there was a skills crisis, argues ConstructionSkills, there would be high wage inflation and delays to projects.

Source

Construction Manager