Its new report finds that 40% of companies have serious concerns about their employees' basic skills. Workers in intermediate and lower level jobs are more likely to need extra training.
The Education and Skills Survey 2008, in conjunction with Edexcel, also found that more than half (53%) of employers lack confidence in their ability to find enough skilled people for their business needs. Positive attitude and ‘employability' skills - including team-working, communication and business awareness - are now seen as more important than a graduate's degree subject or result.
"In our new stocktake of the nation's skills, too many firms say poor basic skills are acting as a drag on their business's performance," says John Cridland, the CBI's deputy director-general. "Being skilled is all the more important in an increasingly global economy, and our message to students is that your hard work to attain the right skills and good qualifications is essential to securing quality, well-paid jobs after school, college or university."
