To The Sunday Telegraph
There must be something seriously wrong with Britain’s education system if we have shortages of doctors, nurses, teachers, engineers, electricians, plumbers and bricklayers when nearly 50% of our teenagers are going to university. What are they all studying?
Professor Ronald C. Denney, Sevenoaks, Kent
I think the problem is two-fold. In the case of doctors, nurses, teachers, the problem is that those professions are increasingly unattractive. Public sector expenditure as a proportion of GDP has been falling since 2010. Which is partly a good thing- it means lower taxes, less debt and a more dynamic private sector. But is also means that public sector professions will be less respectable. The pay will be worse, hours will be longer, and jobs more stressful. Many of my friends would love to me doctors, nurses and teachers, but they don’t believe those jobs have the pay or the quality of life they deserve.
In the case of engineers, electricians, plumbers and bricklayers, there are many reasons for the labour shortage. Part of it is simply an ageing population, which means fewer people of a working age. Part of it is that young people are more intelligent nowadays, and so find manual labour jobs boring, unrewarding and unsatisfying. Part of it is that the government has overfunded A-levels, and instead ought to put more money into vocational training.
Having said all of that, I believe there are two wrong policy prescriptions often proposed in response to the labour and skills shortage. The first would be to dramatically cut the number of university places back to the numbers in the 1970s-80s. The fact is, the vast majority of students end up in employment, most likely in professional employment. Employers like having an educated workforce, so it would be a mistake to diminish higher education- one of Britain’s strongest industries. The second mistake would be to reduce immigration on the grounds that it has resulted in the country not educating and training its young people properly. The fact is, immigrants do not cause the labour and skills shortage, they mitigate it. In the absence of immigration, under-educated Brits would not suddenly have the skills necessary to keep the economy going. Rather, the labour shortage would become more acute, reducing the tax revenue necessary to fund the education system.