Unemployment Cover-Up Highlights Need for IT Training

The whole episode highlights the need for practical training to help reduce the unemployment rate in a more ethical, and real, manner. In particular, it seems that investment is needed to make sure that jobseekers gain the skills to enter telecoms jobs and IT jobs; two areas that have played a large part in stopping the UK from slipping back into a recession.

Typically, the first sector to grow following a recession is the construction industry, due to sharp increases in land values when confidence returns. However, due to the Bank of England keeping interest rates low, house prices were prevented from dropping significantly in value. Combining this with a lack of household confidence, and the difficulty for first-time buyers to obtain mortgages, has resulted in the building industry only growing by 0.5% over the past year. Even this was mainly due to the Olympics.

To further highlight the importance of the Telecoms and IT sectors, government spending is due to decline over the next year as cuts become deeper, and the banking sector faces uncertainty with the Euro crisis continuing.

Given that the health of the UK economy may depend on the nation’s desire for the latest smartphone or Facebook App, there is clearly a case for the Job Centre to start teaching the language of computers rather than traditional English and Maths. The UK will need developers rather than administrators over the next couple of years; with such skills also enabling jobseekers to find contract jobs should permanent jobs not be available.