Page 71 - Regional Employment & Skills Plan 2019

71
Recruitment
35% of respondents indicated that they experience difficulty in recruiting for specific roles, positively 65% do not. Those that do, face challenges in these areas:
• Engineers,
• IT Specialists,
• Social workers,
• Chefs,
• Fabricators,
• Care workers,
• Customer service roles,
• Carpenters,
• Seasonal roles,
• Dentists.
More generally, recruitment issues can be exacerbated by those challenges detailed above which are at- tributable to rurality. Distance to travel to work for instance is a significant challenge for some made worse by the connectivity and ICT infrastructure which is deemed as lacking.
Mid Wales cluster group representatives would like to see further work undertaken into understanding how best to attract and retain skilled individuals within the region.
Barriers to Training
The region has a total employment level of 76,391 and an average wage per job of £22,900. Average wages are £6,400 less than the national average at £29,300.
Employment is biggest in the following industries:
• Growing of crops, market gardening, horticulture and the farming of animals,
• General public administration activities,
• Hospital activities.
Work-readiness
The majority of respondents do not experience barriers to training, however 38% reported that they do. Similarly to patterns seen in South West Wales the most commonly cited barrier is ‘can’t spare staff time’, followed by ‘difficulty in finding training providers to deliver training when or where we want it’ and ‘a lack of good local training providers’.
There is a need to expand the FE and WBL offers in Mid Wales as evidence shows that there is a significant disparity between the variety of courses offered between the two economic areas. There are fewer clear progression routes in Mid Wales and this therefore limits learner’s abilities to pursue their careers of choice and also worsens skills challenges experienced by employers.
Anecdotal evidence acquired by the RLSP indicates that these offer limitations are resulting in learners having to travel significant distances (sometimes across the border) to acquire the skills that they desire and need. This is both an issue for learners that have not entered employment as of yet and for those individuals who are already in work requiring further training. The movement of these learners exacerbates the trend of ‘brain-drain’ from the area.
Regional Employment & Skills Plan South West & Mid Wales
Sector Profiles