Work training ‘more valuable’ than third-level education

MORE emphasis should be placed on improving the skills of workers rather than the misguided strategy of increasing the number of graduates, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) said yesterday.

ICTU insisted continual training of the workforce would prove much more valuable to the economy than third-level education. ICTU general secretary David Begg said the policy of churning out people with university degrees and college diplomas had to be changed.

"Eighty per cent of those currently at work will still be there in 20 years' time so producing new graduates will have no impact on them. What we need to do is upgrade their skills," he said.