Domestic skills shortage fuels demand for migrant workers

The latest quarterly CIPD/KPMG Labour Market Outlook survey reveals that demand for migrant workers is on the rise as UK employers struggle to recruit hard-to-find skills.

The survey of 600 employers found that almost half (45%) reported hard-to-fill vacancies, with 21% recruiting migrants into engineering and 18% into accountancy & finance positions.  Over the past quarter more than one in six organisations has recruited migrant workers, of whom more than a third (37%) originated from outside the European Economic Area.

CIPD public policy adviser and report author Gerwyn Davies says "The study highlights the complex juggling act the government now faces.  The proposed introduction of a migration cap comes at a time when many employers are still struggling to fill skilled vacancies, despite the high unemployment rate.

"The training of local or British workers to fill skilled jobs currently occupied by migrant workers will not happen overnight.  And despite our efforts to educate and train staff for shortage occupations, there is no guarantee that they will go on to progress in that career, as we have found with engineers.

"If a cap is to be introduced, therefore, it has to be gradually phased in to avoid harming UK competitiveness.  Employers running global operations will be forced to offshore skilled jobs to other countries if the right skills mix in the UK cannot be found."

Indeed, the LMO survey has also identified a trend towards greater offshoring activity.  9% of private-sector companies plan to offshore jobs in the twelve months to June 2011.  Of these, 65% plan to offshore to India, 36% to China and 30% to eastern Europe.  The most common functions to be outsourced include call centres (55%), IT (51%) and finance (48%).