Job vacancies across Liverpool City Region (LCR) have hit an all time record high with tens of thousands of posts needing to be filled.
The number of roles being advertised across the six areas of the city region hits 20,000 per week in December last year, up from a pre- pandemic figure of 12,000. The figures were identified within the annual LCR Skills Report, which forecast that while the region’s economic recovery is better than predicted, employers face a tough time recruiting experienced staff.
Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram has launched a skills action plan to help employers, following a £9.4m training and careers programme unveiled in December to expand the Be More apprenticeship portal. The portal aims to help plug skills gaps and support up to 10,000 people next year.
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According to the report, the impact of Covid-19 and the “ongoing issues associated with leaving the EU and also current and future LCR priority investment areas” have led to a reassessment of initial projections.
The full impact of coronavirus on the long term vision of the LCR visitor economy sector is yet to be fully felt, but “local businesses are struggling to recruit in a tight labour market that will restrict their business models, activities and growth," according to the document.
It details how the health and social care sector is seen as a “volume provider of jobs”, with new community based roles in higher demand and as a means to reduce pressure on the NHS and wider care system.
Many sectors are experiencing recruitment and pay challenges due to “fewer candidates and the move to regular hybrid working” according to the findings. The report added hat jobs most under threat as a result of automation and advances in technology are “predominantly lower skilled or routine elementary, process, plant and machine operative occupations” which will have an impact across the region.
Concerns have also been raised within the report regarding the city region underperforming against national levels in terms of qualification rates as well as “significant employment, unemployment and economic inactivity gaps remaining for women, those from an ethnic minority, those with a disability, young people and older people.”
The action plan for 2022/23 aims to reskill the city region workforce, with a focus on young people, and help employers adapt to new post-COVID ways of working and find the qualified and experienced staff they need.
Mayor Rotheram said: “Our region’s people will always be its most precious resource and I want to do everything possible to put them in a position to succeed. Having started my career as an apprentice, I know the life-changing impact that decent training opportunities and good careers advice can have – I want everyone to have the same chances to succeed.
“For far too long, people in our region have been held back not by a lack of talent, but a lack of opportunity. A lack of joined up thinking has too often stifled us. Through the Combined Authority we're putting that right with unified skills plans like this.
“We know that the journey to economic recovery can’t and won’t be made overnight. But we’re taking significant steps now to invest in our region’s future by identifying the skills we need for the jobs in years to come. By doing that hard work now, we’ll be able to connect a highly-skilled pool of local workers with well-paid, secure jobs.”
The Skills Action plan was approved by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority earlier this month.
