Decline of British manufacturing forces Rolls-Royce to find staff abroad
Decline of British manufacturing forces Rolls-Royce to find staff abroad
A severe shortage of skills in Britain is forcing Rolls-Royce, one of Britain’s leading engineering companies, to recruit half its key staff overseas. The maker of aircraft engines has had to turn to Germany and other European countries in its search for engineers and procurement executives as the pool of talent shrinks in Britain’s declining manufacturing sector.
Yesterday Rolls-Royce blamed its plight on the erosion of Britain’s manufacturing base,which has left talented engineers with fewer opportunities. It also said that industry was not being promoted by universities and schools as an attractive career opportunity.
A company spokeswoman said: “Rolls-Royce has no difficulty in recruiting the required skills at graduate level, but our biggest challenge isfinding the right skill sets at mid-career. This is a reflection of the one million manufacturing jobs lost over the last ten years and the loss of critical mass.”
Growing concern over the skill level in British business comes as emerging industrial nations, such as India and China, rapidly improve their skills bases. Businesses fear that those nations, which have so far attracted only commodity work, will soon have a much greater share of the higher added-value production that the West currently holds.
