UK turns to India to meet skills shortage

British manufacturers are finding it difficult to compete globally due to skills shortage that forces them to look to India and elsewhere for recruitment, an industry survey has revealed.

EEF South, the regional manufacturers' organisation representing members in London and south-east England, says more than half of the manufacturers in the region are looking outside the UK to find the skilled people they need to expand their businesses.

The survey shows a widening of the technical skills gap, which is pushing almost six in 10 manufacturers to recruit talent from Eastern Europe and India.

EEF South Chief Executive David Seall told newspersons: "While it is encouraging that greater investment is planned in the UK's technical skills base through an expansion of apprenticeships, as of today manufacturers simply do not have the volume of home grown talent that they need in order to remain competitive."

"Finding the right people for technical jobs continues to be a major challenge - and increasingly for manufacturers this means looking beyond the UK. The situation has worsened over the last two years and is particularly worrying because UK companies need to compete globally through knowledge and innovation rather than on price alone," he said.

Respondents to EEF South's Members' Views Survey say that this skills shortage is driving up the real-term cost of recruitment.