Unite has called for urgent action to close the skills gap by providing decent skilled apprenticeships to young people or face a skills ‘timebomb’.
Officials say industry and the Coalition government are already aware of model schemes which could be more widely implemented.
They say a new “eco-system for skills” is required if the UK economy is to pull out of the recession.
Unite assistant general secretary Tony Burke is expected to tell a conference in Manchester later today: “Decent, skilled apprenticeships today will translate into the skilled workforce of tomorrow – that should be the goal for British manufacturing and our science based industries.
“In the UK we have a skills deficit which was created because even in the good times, the UK failed to take on enough young people in skilled apprenticeships.
“We are facing a demographic timebomb with an ageing workforce and if we are to pull out of the recession, the last thing we need is a skills shortage”
The Manchester conference is being jointly held by Unite and the Technical Apprenticeship Service (TAS), which is part of the Cogent Sector Skills Council which covers the chemicals, life sciences, oil, pharmaceutical and polymer industries.
Unite says the Technical Apprenticeship Service is an easy to use skills service for employers or training providers and for apprentices themselves and is designed to bring the best talent to the industry.
According to officials, since it began in 2011, the Technical Apprenticeship Service has placed 100 new apprentices, with 100 apprentices in recruitment ready to start in September this year and 400 expressions of interest from science based companies.
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