Do we value skills in a recession?

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Recent research carried out by the Association of Colleges (AoC) states that “Three quarters of company directors (77 per cent) believe it is important to invest in staff training in the current economic climate” At the same time the Chartered Management Institute is saying that employees with up to date skills will be more attractive to employers in the current climate.
This is backed up by the LSC that report “Learning a new skill could help safeguard your career in the credit crunch, according to the Learning and Skills Council. Amongst the current economic difficulties experts within the LSC feel learning and developing skills such as literacy, numeracy and communication skills will make you better prepared to combat the crunch in uncertain times and could even help grow your income.”
Does the Third Sector share this belief in the importance of skill development and training in hard times?  Our skills survey reported that two thirds of sector employers had an annual training and development budget, and three quarters had a formal plan.  Anecdotal evidence however tells us that the first budget to be cut in many small VCOs when times are hard is the staff training budget.

Posted by skillsmark on 22 September 2009 11:05 AM