PROFESSOR DYLAN JONES-EVANS

With skills being seen as the top priority by chief executives in every business survey carried out in recent times, the latest “The Future of Jobs” report from the World Economic Forum is required reading for anyone associated with developing our economy. Not surprisingly, the study focuses on the impact of technological changes on employment and the transformations being faced by a range of different industries. It states that whilst there are threats that could negatively affect competitiveness and jobs as the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution begins to take shape, there are also great opportunities for developing better and more productive jobs that could improve the quality of life in all economies. In fact, whilst 75 million jobs may be displaced by a global shift in the division of labour between humans and machines, 133 million new roles may emerge that are more relevant to this new reality in the workplace. But what are the main issues facing policymakers here i...

When I was younger, my grandmother was always able to pluck out a Welsh proverb from thin air to describe any situation. One of the ones she was particularly fond of quoting, especially when I came back home from university, was “Nerth gwlad, ei gwybodaeth” or roughly translated, “a nation’s strength is its knowledge”. As this nation looks set to go through another period of change and uncertainty, that proverb rings truer every day and the importance of the development of skills and knowledge has become even more critical to the competitiveness of the UK economy. The importance of the challenges we face have been pointed out in a number of recent studies. For example, a survey by the Federation of Small Businesses found that, at an owner-manager level, the low levels of management and leadership competences is affecting productivity by having a negative effect on the growth potential of small firms. In fact, only a quarter of smaller businesses had undertaken management tra...

As we enter the final phases of negotiation for exiting Europe, it is critical that the UK puts itself in the strongest competitive position possible to make the best of any opportunity that may arise for the economy as we look to develop new trading partnerships globally. One of the greatest concerns of businesses remains the availability and development of skills, especially in a fast-changing global environment and a study from the UK Government suggests that addressing this is not going to be easy going forward. The report “Future of Skills & Lifelong Learning” demonstrates unequivocally that there needs to be some dramatic improvements across the whole spectrum from not only in raising the level of qualifications across the population but in using those qualifications effectively within the workplace. One of the key issues raised is the fact that not only do young adults have poor literacy and numeracy but that the UK is falling further behind international competitors...

Earlier this year, I undertook some research work to gain a detailed insight into the skill needs of small to medium-sized firms (SMEs) across a range of sectors, focusing on examining current skill gaps and shortages as well as future needs from the view of both supply and demand for skills. Whilst the work focused on businesses based in South East Wales, the results are also of relevance to businesses in North Wales and tell us a lot about what SMEs need to do to enhance their competitiveness through better skills. First of all, the research showed that majority of businesses are currently facing skills gaps but cannot appoint new members of staff to fill these gaps mainly because of issues within each sector, including manufacturing, construction and services. For example, most manufacturing firms are having difficulties with technical skills but are focusing on addressing these gaps through intensive internal training as the technology changes or, where necessary, by promoti...