Skilled trades shortage may stall future economic growth

By siliconindia   |   Thursday, 02 September 2010, 00:11 IST   |    5 Comments
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Skilled trades shortage may stall future economic growth
Milwaukee: Unless businesses, governments and trade associations work together to develop long-term strategies to alleviate talent shortages among skilled trades, future economic growth will suffer. Worldwide, skilled trades positions are the hardest to fill, reveals Manpower's recent global Talent Shortage Survey of 35,000 employers across 36 countries and territories. Manpower's new World of Work Insight paper titled "Strategic Migration - a Short-Term Solution to the Skilled Trades Shortage," warns that as the global economy recovers, it is necessary to implement strategic migration policies in order to create a mobile workforce and plug the gap of skilled workers. The lack of skilled blue-collar workers could impede the progress of infrastructure projects and inhibit national growth - such as transportation in India and power in Brazil, for example. It is a problem that national governments must address for the long-term to foster economic health and fuel business growth. In the meantime, increasing the mobility of these workers can help ease the talent shortage. "As the global recovery gathers pace, cultivating future talent and alleviating the shortage of skilled workers is becoming vital to ensure economic growth," said Jeffery A. Joerres, Manpower Chairman and CEO. "With unemployment high around the world, migration is an emotive subject but strategic migration will be necessary to create a global workforce and alleviate the current shortage. Countries should be developing policies which facilitate positive migration to fuel economic growth through providing skilled workers where they are needed, rather than creating barriers to immigration," he said. Shortages of skilled workers are acute in many of the world's biggest economies, including the United States, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and Brazil, where employers ranked skilled trades as their number one or number two hiring challenge, according to Manpower's 2010 Talent Shortage Survey. Strategic Migration calls for long-term, collaborative strategies to alleviate shortages of skilled workers, including promoting positive attitudes towards skilled trades work and ensuring that the technical training workers receive reflects the current demands of industry. Although migration can provide an immediate solution, these domestic policies should take priority to shape an indigenous workforce for the long term. Fewer than one in three 15-year-olds in Germany and the Czech Republic see themselves in a high-skilled blue-collar job by the age of 30, and that figure is even lower in Italy, the US and Japan, according to a survey by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). A workforce that meets the needs of businesses is vital to ensure that the global economy flourishes in the future; addressing shortages with strategic migration in the short-term and changing perceptions and training programs in the long-term is the key to creating an environment which encourages infrastructure projects and growth. While this Insight paper discusses how appropriately flexible, or strategic, migration of skilled trades workers is key to plugging a significant portion of the talent gap, it goes far beyond that. The migration constraints associated with talent mobility is an issue that affects all career fields and therefore, impacts all countries and will be one that governments around the world will need to collaborate with businesses, trade, academic and educational institutions in order to fuel healthy economic growth and prosperity in the future.