Skills: Use ’em or lose ’em

The UK Commission for Education and Skills published a report yesterday, endorsed by both the CBI and TUC, with a simple message: If we want the economy to grow, productivity has to improve and if we want productivity to improve, we need a more highly skilled workforce.

The trouble is, like our labour market, Britain’s skills profile has been hollowing out in the middle. By 2020, half the population is expected to be qualified to degree level yet a quarter of jobs only require primary school level qualifications, one of the highest proportions in the OECD. With fewer jobs in the middle, it’s becoming that much harder to progress.