Manpower planning Available to Purchase

Without touching on problems of income and industrial relations, which tend to dominate the reporting of labour market affairs, it is still easy to take a pessimistic view of Britain's manpower situation. Unemployment is running at more than 3 per cent for only the second time since the war; yet there are still critical shortages of skilled workers in some sectors, notably the mechanical and electrical engineering construction industry. There are serious regional imbalances in employment; there is relatively little geographical mobility of labour; our record in training, particularly the training of young people, is one of inadequacy despite the efforts of the training boards and the Government during the last ten years. There is a tendency on the part of some employers to hoard labour against the effects of possible skill shortages, and to poach skilled labour rather than train it. In short the labour market is very complex, and functions imperfectly.