As the UK, US and EU face significant skills shortages - what makes for a good career in the 21st Century?

Having just returned from two weeks in the United States, where I visited three cities and took part in three highly educational events— American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) : 2023 Federal Issues Program & TCC Fly-In in Washington DC; the 2023 AASHTO (American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials) Spring Meeting in Seattle Washington; and the 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers : World Environmental and Water Resources Congress in Las Vegas.

Armed with only a good pair of Loake English Brogue shoes and my trusty Bennett Winch bag, I was off to listen and learn.

As I listened what I found interesting was the similarity of the challenges facing the US, the UK and other major nations.

One challenge that stands out is the labour deficit.

As pandemic restrictions have been lifted, the demand for products and services has increased, while the supply of employees has remained unchanged.

In the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union, the number of job openings has increased to match or exceed the number of available candidates.While?it?is?most?visible?in?the?public?sector?in?the?United?Kingdom,?notably?in?the?health?and?transport?sectors,?the?commercial?sector?is?also?dealing?with?the?same?day-to-day?difficulties.

In February, the British Chambers of Commerce released the results of its survey of 5,600 businesses conducted in 2022. It demonstrated that recruitment was more difficult than ever: nearly two-thirds of firms wanted to employ people, but eight out of ten of these firms reported difficulty locating skilled or unskilled workers.

Last year’s Nash Squared Digital Leadership Report highlighted several key issues:

“Almost nine in ten digital leaders believe that a major global change is happening faster than ever. Where once disruption might have been a term reserved for new entrants in the market or a competitor’s new products, it now comes from all directions including geopolitics, supply chains and ‘the great resignation’.

As the world grows more interconnected, one region can have direct implications for other geographies.”

And where skills shortages are concerned, the report explained:

“There is no let-up in the war for talent. Up to 70% of this year’s digital leaders state that a skills shortage prevents them from keeping up with the pace of change; the highest we have seen since we started reporting 24 years ago.

Six in ten feel the rising cost of living has made salary demands unsustainable.

The market for talent is now global.”

The United States has an equivalent dilemma.

In November, Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell stated that the labour force was 3.5 million workers short of pre-pandemic projections. According to him, two million of the shortfall could be attributed to more individuals retiring early.

Vacant positions outnumbered available employees by 4 million, equating to 1.75 jobs for each job seeker. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce reported that the worker participation rate was 62.6% in March, down from 63.3% in February 2020. Reasons include illness (of the individual or a family member), low pay rates, and the desire to acquire additional skills before re-entering the workforce.

In the United States, the shortage of IT professionals is particularly severe, impacting not just the IT industry, but also other firms that depend on IT.

Many jobs also need at least some familiarity with basic technology. From human resources to nursing, 10.7 million job openings needed candidates to have computer literacy in the year ending August 2022.

Globally, the competition for top talent is fierce.

In January, the German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) reported that more than half of 22,000 companies had difficulty hiring people, with the situation being more extreme for technical businesses: two-thirds of groups in the electrical equipment, mechanical engineering, and car-making industries were unable to fill vacancies.?

Another survey found that the main personnel challenge for nearly a third of respondents was hiring, with this situation expected to persist for the foreseeable future.

Soft skills are the most in demand for employers.

According to research carried out by the CITB in 2021, the U.K. construction industry will need to recruit an additional 217,000 workers by 2025 to simply meet demand.

How do we resolve the problem?

In the UK in 1999 the then recently elected Labour government set a target of 50% of young people going to university.

It was believed at the time that graduates can expect to earn, on average, far more than non-graduates over the course of their careers.

However, research published by the UK’s Office for Students in 2022 found that less than two thirds (57%) of students find employment within 15 months of graduating from university.

Have we as parents been talking our children out of careers such as plumbers, joiners or electricians and aiming them for university. As apprentices also learn valuable skills and often move into senior roles and become industry leaders - is our perspective wrong?

As a great fan of Simon Sinek , I remember him saying, “Too many of us confuse that short term impacts that we’re having are producing long term value, or conversely, having no short-term impact means we’re producing no value.” He went on to use the analogy of going to the gym for nine hours in one sitting and expecting a return compared to doing 30 minutes a day for a year.

Career progression is a process, people learn in their jobs and over time become experts. If ?people follow that process, overtime they can get the long-term goals they are looking for.

According to the industry reports, about USD 400 billion is spent on training internationally each year. Even though more than 70% of employees participate in informal or on-the-job learning, it is often not valued enough by by an employer reading a CV.

It is also advantageous to the employer, which is welcome news for U.K. businesses, who together spend barely half of the EU average on on-the-job learning per worker. According to the OECD, one hour of informal learning costs USD 15.50 and yields a USD 55 yearly return. Formal training takes longer and has fewer participants.

Even with the advantages of informal learning, formal education cannot be overlooked.

According to a 麦肯锡 study, up to 375 million people worldwide may need to shift jobs over the next decade, making re-training an important factor.

LinkedIn ’s 2018 research shows that 94% of workers would remain with a firm longer if it invested in their development. We are well aware that younger generations, in particular, desire an employer who is concerned about their well-being.

Training is essential for retaining a productive team, and it may be less expensive than recruiting. According to the World Economic Forum , re-skilling a quarter of all people in at-risk occupations in the U.S. would be less expensive than finding new ones.

As the father of a thirteen-year-old daughter who has just finished her exams we have started the family chats around careers and goals.

As a parent nowadays it seems really difficult to know where to start a good and stable career and what to recommend…

As someone who has benefitted from both practical experience and academic leadership at the same time via day release, I wonder if we as parents need to look at vocational learning?

As nations how do we solve our skills gaps?

As parents’ what careers are you discussing with your children?

I’d be very interested to listen to people’s views on this topic