The Government is being urged to launch a national body to gather labour market intelligence to inform education and skills policy, ahead of the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement on Thursday this week.
The National Centre for Universities & Business – an independent and not-for-profit membership organisation that promotes, develops and supports both academia and UK businesses – has made the call in response to new ONS Labour Market statistics that show the number of vacancies remains close to one million from July to September 2023.
The move comes amid claims that marketers are facing a race to keep up with the demands of new technology, despite a slight improvement in their core digital expertise, with the likes of generative AI, Google Analytics 4, and Web3 threatening to create a fresh skills gap across the majority of industries.
Training body Target Internet, in association with the Chartered Institute of Marketing, based its insight on responses from more than 10,000 marketing professionals, gathered between 2018 to 2023.
NCUB Head of Policy and Engagement Rosalind Gill said: “The UK’s ambition to scale up innovation and meet the national challenges outlined at the Conservative Party Conference cannot be met with the current skills gaps across the economy.
“Action is needed to address this gap, anticipate skills needs and build a workforce fit for the future. Indeed, recent data further underscores the urgency of the situation, revealing that there were 988,000 vacancies, in July to September 2023. This highlights the severity of skills gaps and mismatches that specific sectors in the UK are grappling with.
“To help cope with this, we are urging the Government to create a new body to tackle the current skills crisis, proactively address future skill demands, and cultivate a workforce ready for the upcoming challenges.
“Since the dissolution of the UK Skills & Employment Commission in 2017, the UK has lacked a national body dedicated to gathering labour market intelligence to guide policy making. This new body will be vital for businesses, universities and the Government alike, to better understand the labour market needs.”
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