Making Skills Work: The Path to Solving the Productivity Crisis

A detailed account of the past 60 years of skills and education policy, together with insights on how the productivity puzzle can be addressed through skills development. The report includes research commissioned by City & Guilds, which surveyed 1,000 decision makers in UK businesses and 2,000 working-age adults – finding strong links between skills and productivity, and wide regional divergence in opportunity:

A sizeable majority of senior decision makers (74%) and over 9 in 10 (91%) of CEOs identify building their workforce’s skills as crucial for boosting productivity

Fewer than half of working age adults (48%) feel that they left their time in education with the right skills to transition into a career of their choice. A large minority (40%) of respondents that are not in work (students, unemployed, retired) are not confident they have the skills now required to enter the workforce.