Page 54 - Regional Employment & Skills Plan 2019

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Recruitment
The majority (71%) of respondents do not face difficulties in recruiting for specific roles. Those that do report that engineers, milkers, production line operatives, specialist bakers, butchers, de-boners and brewers are the most sought after.
1,809 unique job postings were made between January 2018 and 2019. The median posting durations for these roles was 22 days, which is lower than the median posting duration for all other occupations and companies in the region (26 days), indicating that companies may not be facing as much difficulty in recruiting for specific roles.57
Barriers to Training
74% of respondents indicated that they do not experience barriers to training. The 26% that do state that one of the most prolific challenges is the fact that they ‘can’t spare staff time’, followed by ‘lack of funds for the training’ and ‘hard to find time to organise the training’. This is a trend exhibited across all enterprise size.
The majority of businesses surveyed reported that they are not aware of the funding opportunities available to them to assist with training. This suggests that further work needs to be undertaken to ensure that employers are sign-posted to the relevant stakeholders in order to take advantage of the opportunities available to them.
An important issue to note is the non-existence of further education provision related to the food manufacturing sector. This obviously poses a significant barrier to training for those individuals hoping to pursue a career in the food manufacturing industry whereby the work-based learning route is the only path available to them. This needs to change and therefore a recommendation being put forward at the request of employers within the region is to see the development and introduction of this provision into the further education offer.
Apprenticeships
83% of respondents indicated that they do not employ apprentices. The most commonly cited reason (40%) behind this is reported as ‘frameworks do not meet business needs’. This is followed by ‘financial constraints’ (29%).
Recent statistics indicate that only 1% of the Apprenticeships offered in Wales are in Agriculture even-though the sectors employment accounts for 4% of Wales’ total population. There is a need to increase numbers in this area and ensure that with the changing nature of agriculture in terms of both skills and innovation, that learners have appropriate pathways into the industry. This will also serve to alleviate the issue of an ageing workforce.
Brexit
109 respondents indicated that Brexit was a concern for them. Increased costs are the main concern for 66% of these businesses. This was followed by ‘funding’ (58%) and ‘exporting/importing difficulties’ (50%).
Larger companies reported that they fear the loss of staff and the loss of skills.
Secondary evidence reviewed by the RLSP indicate that there could be wider implications for the sector, including;
57 RLSP analysis of EMSI Job Posting Analytics
Regional Employment & Skills Plan South West & Mid Wales
Sector Profiles