European Skills Shortages: "Economies in Europe are struggling, yet the demand for highly qualified people is projected to rise by almost 16m throughout Europe by 2020. If Europe is to compete with emerging economies, high skills levels are essential. Europe also needs to harness the power of apprenticeships, which are proving so successful in Germany. The UK needs to embrace apprenticeships as well as continue to address the basic skills needed for employment – around a fifth of UK adults do not have basic numeracy skills.
Coupled with this is the “talent drain” where a proportion of the the very best people opt out of their home country and ply their trade or profession elsewhere leading to a downward spiral of available talent. We are seeing this in Southern Europe and Ireland at present.
Globally, skilled trades such as electricians and plumbers, along with engineers, teachers, healthcare professionals and chefs , tend to be in shortest supply."
