We hear a lot in the media about the Skills Gap in the UK and how important it is for us to train our young people in the digital and technical skills needed both now and in the future.
In general, the coverage tends to be negative, saying what the UK is NOT doing to tackle the skills gap and how much we’re relying on people from the EU and beyond to do those jobs.
For a more positive look at the situation here are some statistics to give you an idea about the scale of the opportunities — it’s projected that 79,000 engineering-related jobs will be created in the UK every year over the next few years (Engineering UK Report 2018]…..and there’ll be nearly 160,000 Big Data new jobs created by 2020.
Today,19% of the UK workforce is employed in the engineering sector generating 25% of the UK’s total GDP (2015)—-that’s £420.5 billion.
In our last podcast, we heard about how Liverpool Girl Geeks are working hard to persuade more females to take up science in schools and this time round we’re meeting representatives from 2 other local organisations who are working hard to get more young people into engineering and technology.
Michelle Dow from the Baltic-based All About Stem was one of the UK’s first female gas fitters back in 1992.
Her organisation All About Stem is behind Big Bang North West on Tuesday 10th July where 8,000 young people will gather in Liverpool and meet potential employers..
And just a few weeks ago, during the International Business Festival at the Exhibition Centre on the waterfront 5,000 young people attended a Skills Show organised by Liverpool City Region’s Apprenticeship Hub …. encouraging young people to consider apprenticeships as an alternative to universities and meet the companies who will hopefully be employing them in the not too distant future.
In this month’s Baltic Broadcasting Company podcast Mick Ord and Mark Reeson meet the people behind these events and find out about the challenges and opportunities they’re tackling so that our young people can face the future with optimism.
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