Plymouth businesses are struggling to fill 2,000 jobs in the city - and are drawing up an action plan to tackle the problem.
A “perfect storm” of issues - including an ageing workforce, the increase in delivery, warehouse and supermarket jobs, the Covid pandemic, and even Brexit - are being blamed for the shortage of candidates.
And the recruitment problems cut across firms and sectors, with shortages in manufacturing, construction, hospitality and health and social care, among others.
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In response, Plymouth businesses held a summit, at City College Plymouth, and an action plan will now be produced to tackle the problem over the next five years.
Paul Turner, new chairman of the Plymouth Employment and Skills Board, said the city will have to look at everything from how students are educated in schools and colleges, to retraining existing workers and even attracting skilled people to the city from other parts of the country.
In his day job as HR chief for Princess Yachts, Mr Turner is already wrestling with a shortage of 150 to 200 key staff at that firm. But he stressed it is a city- and region-wide problem and said: “We have 2,000 positions advertised in Plymouth that are not filled, that’s in every sector.
“So we need a vision and approach over the next five years. We need to get young people into roles and attract people into new sectors, both in the city and the region.
“That could mean growing your own workers from apprentices, upskilling people from challenging backgrounds and attracting people to Plymouth and the region. It’s a combination.
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“We need people now, so apprentices are fundamental to what we do in the short- to mid-term, but we need to encourage young people to go into apprenticeship schemes. And we need to think about the whole city, or you run the risk of simply poaching from one another.”
He said this could mean “selling the city” to workers who could be attracted to relocate to Plymouth - and keep indigenous workers in the region.
“There will be a package of things we will need to do to make Plymouth more attractive and competitive against the likes of London, Bristol, Birmingham and other places,” he said.
Mr Turner said there was a “perfect storm” of reasons for the recruitment headache, including Brexit and said: “The reality is that it (Brexit) has affected lots of sectors.”
But there are other reasons too and despite firms such as Princess Yachts, for example, paying competitive salaries, with attractive shift patterns and benefits, they face competition from other firms in the manufacturing sector and also from delivery, warehouse and supermarket companies, which are growing in size and number.
In October 2021, e-commerce giant Amazon offered a £3,000 golden hello to new staff in Devon as the number of unfilled job vacancies in the South West hit a record high.
The worker shortage became so pronounced the online retailer offered the “signing on bonus” for a warehouse operative in Exeter, on top of pay of £10 to £20 an hour.
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The same month, the KPMG and REC 海角视频 Report on Jobs for the region revealed recruiters were facing substantial increases in vacancies as economic activity picked up with candidate shortages curbing overall growth. Greater demand for staff, fewer EU workers and a general shortage of skills were all cited by recruiters.
As a result of the Plymouth vacancies, dozens of business representatives attended the Skills4Plymouth Summit to discuss the current skills shortage and the steps the city needs to take to address it.
The consultation was aimed at finding out what their recruitment problems are and it will be followed by further meetings with other stakeholders including skills providers.
Emma Hewitt, skills lead for Plymouth, said a new five-year plan for skills is being worked on to look at short- and mid-term solutions, for the next two to three years, and for the longer term. The five-year strategic plan will then be published in early 2022.
The summit was hosted by Plymouth City Council’s Skills and Post 16 Team on behalf of the Plymouth Employment and Skills Board.
Cllr Dave Downie, cabinet member for education, skills, children and young people, said the summit had been a success and added: “We are committed that Plymouth’s new skills strategy will be demand-led and demand-informed, and with the high level of energy and engagement of our local employers this will certainly help ensure that we can reduce the skills gaps and skills shortages by working together.”
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Business Live's South West Business Reporter is William Telford. William has more than a decade's experience reporting on the business scene in Plymouth and the South West. He is based in Plymouth but covers the entire region.
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At the summit, the previous chair of the Plymouth Employment and Skills Board, Steve Cardew was thanked for his leadership role during the previous six years.
Meanwhile, Building Plymouth will continue to seek to address the skills shortage in the city’s building industry with a drop-in session at its Job Shop every Tuesday, noon to 2pm, at Barclays, 140-146 Armada Way.