City & Guilds Centre for Skills Development / Provision of Skills / Provision of Skills / Are you caught in the 'skills trap'? / Latest Posts

RE: Are you caught in the 'skills trap'?

Taiye Aro — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 15:16:16 GMT

Yet again we see that those who do worst out of formal education get less training in the workplace, with employers giving more time off to those already in professional jobs. It’s also terrible news that women are not being rewarded for their new skills to the same extent as men, in spite of the fact that they are getting more training. Skills alone do not bring equality for women, as other issues such as working culture, employer attitudes to flexible working, the availability of affordable childcare and the value placed on women’s contribution all impact on their position in the labour market. We hope that this report adds to the calls for ending the gender pay gap and making full use of women’s talents across the workforce.

Liz Smith, Unionlearn

RE: Are you caught in the 'skills trap'?

Taiye Aro — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 15:14:16 GMT

This [report] has arrived at a critical time during the economic crisis. It would be easy for the skills community to go back to old, bad behaviours, but the report reminds us both of how far we’ve come in training, and how far we have yet to go – particularly for women and the unskilled. If we don’t continue to work hard to provide training to everyone in need, and to eliminate outdated barriers facing women in the workplace, we could be digging a hole that might prove too deep to escape from in the future.

Dame Ruth Silver, Lewisham College

RE: Are you caught in the 'skills trap'?

Taiye Aro — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 15:12:52 GMT

It’s a worrying finding in terms of opportunity and progression. Those with the lowest skills are given little chance to improve them, while those with higher skills carry on accruing more because employers see greater returns from training their most educated staff. The pay gap is getting ever wider, and this is putting terrible pressure on some of the people least able to cope with the effects of the recession.

Matilda Gosling, City & Guilds Centre for Skills Development

Are you caught in the 'skills trap'?

Nick Grist — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:02:30 GMT

[size="2"]A new CSD report, [url=http://www.skillsdevelopment.org/PDF/Who%20Trains.pdf][b][u][i]Who Trains?[/i][/u][/b], [/url]which studied organisations’ training practices across the UK, found that unskilled and low paid workers are less likely than their skilled colleagues to receive training, in spite of the Government’s efforts through Train to Gain to improve basic skills levels.

This ‘skills trap’ means that some of the UK’s lowest-paid people have little opportunity to improve their chances of promotion and higher pay. As a result, the pay gap between skilled and unskilled staff is growing.

The report found that women from the UK tend to receive more training from their employers than men, however, they are not being rewarded for their skills to the same extent as their male colleagues. The report calls on employers and the Government to work harder to ensure that women are recognised for their skills.

In addition, the report states that current Government initiatives – such as the flagship Train to Gain scheme – are not doing enough to help, and must to be updated to deal more effectively with the recession.

We want to hear your views:

• What do you think the British Government should do to solve this problem?
• How can we prevent more people falling into the ‘skills trap’?
• Have you fallen into the skills trap? [/size]