British PM warns of significant job losses for unskilled workers

Filed under Income in Trades, Skilled Trades, The Future of Trades

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has issued a warning that Britain’s unskilled work force will suffer great job losses soon. Those with training in skilled trades will be better equipped to weather the coming changes.

Speaking on the BBC’s The Politics Show, Brown warned that in the next decade, British industry stands to lose 5.5. million jobs to outsourcing overseas. Workers with skilled trades training as well as those in high tech jobs would be less likely to lose jobs but Britain’s six million unskilled laborers will be reduced in number to “half a million.”

Brown will unveil a plan today to increase the number of apprenticeships available to young people that will give Britain “the most highly-skilled workforce in the world.”

Business leaders such as Manchester United Manager Sir Alex Ferguson and Sir Alan Sugar of Amstrad both agreed strongly with Brown’s assertions and his plan to increase apprenticeships. Brown added, “The biggest barrier to full employment is now not the shortage of jobs but the shortage of skills. If you don’t get the skills, you’ll not get a job.”