A GCSE qualification in construction and the built environment can help tackle the UK's skills "famine", says government envoy Sir Digby Jones.
The former CBI chief was launching a construction training centre at an academy in Bury, Lancashire.
It is one of the schools and colleges piloting the GCSE, which mixes training in bricklaying and woodwork with planning and design skills.
Sir Digby said these were as vital as good behaviour and a desire to learn.
Thousands of firms in the North West of England - as elsewhere - are struggling to recruit enough workers with the basic skills they need.
Sir Digby said he wanted to use his visit to highlight not only the importance of vocational skills, but also how those skills could build young people's aspirations for their lives as well as for their careers.
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