special report
Accenture/FEB Survey:
‘Employers cut training investment despite skills shortages’ Eighty six (!) percent of European employers have cut or frozen spending on skills and training in the last 12 months despite a continued concern over skills shortages, according to new research by Accenture commissioned by the Federation of Enterprises in Belgium (FEB) for the European Business Summit 2012. The report urges actions to enhance Europe’s skills market.
By EBR
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EUROPEANBUSINESSREVIEW
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he survey of 500 senior decision makers from European businesses, government agencies and civil society organisations reveals that only 18 percent of companies and bodies plan to increase spending on skills and training over the next 12 months. Yet, 43 percent of them currently face at least moderate skills shortages and 72 percent of respondents say Europe’s businesses, policy makers and civil society organizations need to increase investment in this area. “There’s a double paradox in that European businesses are cutting back on skills development at the very time when they should invest more; and
skills shortages are persisting in spite of a very large pool of unused talent here and across the world,” said Mark Spelman, managing director Strategy of Accenture. “Employers recognise the need for counter-cyclical investment in Europe’s human capital, but are struggling to find solutions. Getting Europe’s skills markets to work better would unlock new enterprise, economic growth and job creation.” According to Accenture analysis in the report, if Europe’s annual GDP growth rate was 0.5 percent (more than the zero growth forecast by the European Commission for the EU in 2012), it would take until 2019 for Europe to restore employment levels last seen in 2008. It would require two percent annual GDP growth to reach pre-crisis levels of employment by 2014. The Accenture report, “Turning the Tide: How Europe Can Rebuild Skills and Generate Growth” analyses three key challenges of Europe’s skills markets that can be addressed through solutions built on improved insight and collaboration: Untapped pool of talent: Employers are not sufficiently exploiting the available skills of many of Europe’s 25 million unemployed people or the additional