The Small Business Column

In this week’s column, Kehlan Kirwan looks at why skills are the next hurdle for the economy, and not jobs.

Positive news in recent weeks has seen Ireland look with greater enthusiasm towards the future. Unemployment has started to come down and it looks like we may hit 9% by the end of this year.

However, Ireland’s issue with unskilled workers is one which is quickly becoming apparent.

We have invested a lot of time and effort in encouraging the businesses of the future to start-up here, of course we’ve done the same thing with foreign companies coming into the country.

While we have been very good in doing this, we have not backed it up with providing the skilled workers to carry it on.

A hangover from the Celtic Tiger days and one in which we have not got over. Jobsbridge and Fás do not have the tonic suited for this.

Public service solutions to private enterprise problems rarely work. Skilled workers are key for any economy.

They provide a solid base for which drive the economy forward, but they also mean higher wages and better work conditions.

These higher wages provide more value to the exchequer. Spending power increases and a ripple effect happens in the economy.

So skilled workers must become a major priority in the next few years. We have also set a dangerous precedent with Jobsbridge.

It has opened the door to internship like programmes which match that of the likes of the US and the UK . The onus is on paying more than qualified people to do the same job as somebody earning a real wage for peanuts.

There have been some success stories from the programme, but they are few and far between. Apprenticeships are also a major problem. The association with the building boom means that apprenticeships are barely creeping into double figures.

That’s double figures for the entire country. Highly skilled work in areas like electrics, joinery, carpentry and other such skills have been allowed to dwindle and fall by the wayside. Unpopular by word of mouth, unpopular by way of uptake.

Universities are producing new graduates, but the gap between what they are providing and what industries need is still large.

The interaction between business and third level needs to increase for all industries not just the tech or engineering markets. Those issues are largely targeted towards 18- to 25-year-olds. What has happened to provisions for those aged 30 to 45? How have we retooled them for a new economy? We haven’t.

The focus has largely been on a younger generation. Meanwhile, a group of people who still have a huge amount to offer have been told upskill or lose out.

With no cohesive plan on how to do that, we are in danger of sidelining yet another age group on this issue. Ireland’s hurdle for a better economy now lies with providing the skills for jobs available.

It’s great news announcing jobs here and there around the country, but what you won’t hear is how long it takes to fill those jobs or how many of them get advertised overseas to find the right candidate.

Ireland’s next big challenge is not in providing jobs, but in providing the skilled workers to fill them.

We’ve shown that Ireland is the right place to have business, but have not shown it the right place for skills provision.

You can announce all the jobs you like, but if you don’t have the workers to fill them then you’re still at square one.