Special report: Liverpool City Region – mind the skills gap
LIVERPOOL’S skills deficit is linked to the fact that so many are “generationally unemployed”, according to Robert Hough, former chairman of Liverpool LEP, who spoke at a round table event supported by MSIF of the need to tackle the “underbelly of deprivation” to ensure the success of the Northern Powerhouse.
Liverpool’s economy has historically been closely linked to the docks. As England’s second largest port, after London, it played a pivotal role in transatlantic trade, as well as that with Ireland.
The growth of containerisation resulted in a massive decline in employment in the docks, with a major multiplier effect, resulting in Liverpool being the only English city whose population actually declined after WWII.
This story is part of a 16-page special report on the Liverpool City Region.
To download the full report for free, click here
Hough pointed to areas like Bootle, Knowsley and Birkenhead, which have been long associated with port employment.
“Graduate retention rates are respectable, but we do need to improve them further, so it is a virtuous circle, so that the economy can grow,” he said.
The role of local universities and colleges is central in addressing the skills deficit.
Shulah Jones, project lead for Port Academy Liverpool and head of business strategy at Hugh Baird College in Bootle, said: “Over the last couple of decades you mention the word Bootle and people think deprivation – it’s a no-go area.
“But when you look, it’s actually come from a very proud place. It was a very wealthy town in its day. It was actually a place where a lot of people would’ve gone for their holidays and day trips. We have a part play in terms of reshaping our whole community with our aspirations.
“The reason we created Port Academy Liverpool [see page 12] was people came to us and said you’re the nearest college and this is an opportunity which won’t come round again for us.
“I go to many meetings with Job Centre Plus and the council and there’s a feeling I’m getting that people are just sitting waiting for someone to tell them ‘this is what you’re going to do’.
“Peel Ports isn’t going to come to us and say this is exactly what you need to be doing now to create these jobs and this is what we’ll do to help you“We’ve got to be proactive and respond to the opportunities, not the other way around. I sometimes think I sound like a maritime evangelist. One of the roles I think we have to do is sell that dream – the potential reality of what is to come to our businesses, not just to our students.”
This story is part of a 16-page special report on the Liverpool City Region.
To download the full report for free, click here
