The 2010 report of the Wales Employment and Skills Board (WESB) states that creating good quality, sustainable employment is essential if the Assembly Government is to achieve its goals in other major areas such as health and social justice.
It argues that economic and social goals are not in competition with each other because sustainable social policies depend upon an economic renewal that tackles joblessness, which is the root cause of many social problems.
The document entitled 'Moving Forward: Foundations for Growth' recommends a wide range of measures designed to stimulate enterprise, raise the performance of businesses, boost skills at all levels and strengthen partnerships between education and industry.
It maintains that economic renewal in Wales requires action to create employment of all kinds, not only jobs in the hi-tech and ‘high value-added’ fields.
The importance of stimulating new activity in advanced technology industries should, it says, be balanced by strong measures to promote growth in other sectors, such as tourism, leisure and other service industries which have the potential to create significant numbers of ‘good quality’ jobs.
The report said that generating a wide range of employment opportunities and equipping the workforce with core ‘employability skills’ was essential for the achievement of the Assembly Government’s aspirations of a strong economy and a fair and prosperous society.
WESB was created in 2008 to provide an independent view of employment and skills issues in Wales and to advise Assembly Government ministers on policies in respect of these two key areas. The chair of WESB, Sir Adrian Webb, also represents Wales on the UK Commission for Employment and Skills.
The body’s second annual report was presented to Welsh Ministers today by Sir Adrian, who is former vice-chancellor of the University of Glamorgan.
The document contained five sections dealing with what the chair described as the crucial levers of recovery and growth for the Welsh economy.
These included a series of recommendations for tackling;
- Economic renewal and skills challenges
- Basic skills
- Employability skills
- Youth unemployment
- Higher education
The WESB chairman said: “Sustainable economic renewal, underpinned by better skills and improved employability, must be the first priority, underpinning all other government imperatives. We need to generate good quality employment; secure, long-term jobs with the prospect of progression for the individual. This is essential to prevent people dipping in and out of poverty during their working lives.”
“We need a co-ordinated approach to creating and sustaining those jobs and ensuring people have the right skills, confidence and mobility to undertake such employment. The Assembly Government’s commitment to economic renewal and the skills agenda gives us a platform for tackling these issues.”
Sir Adrian added: “Boosting wealth creation in Wales means increasing the number of companies in the high value added sectors, but it also means increasing the productivity, performance and growth of businesses across all sectors. We need to focus on generating jobs at all skill levels and in a wide range of sectors.”
The board’s report called for greater use of public sector procurement and the supply chains of large ‘anchor’ companies in Wales as levers to encourage employers to invest more in skills and make fuller use of the existing skills of their workforce, thereby to create more jobs.
It argued that the mutual sector and social enterprises could also play a key role in creating jobs. Sir Adrian quoted the recent example of the NHS in Nottinghamshire, which has helped local food producers to form co-operatives large enough to supply hospitals throughout the area.
