Get yourself a trade, son

The longstanding issue of the skills shortage has been brought to the top of the news agenda recently, with various industry organisations commenting on how it is continuing to impact on business.

It has been enough to stir up our regular Glass Times magazine columnist, Danny Williams – MD of Essex manufacturer, Pioneer Trading – a man who prides himself on his ‘hands on’ skills and who originally trained as a diesel fitter before making his fortune in double glazing.

Danny even reckons he could still get the gearbox out of one of Pioneer’s lorries on a Friday and have it back on the road on Monday. Does anyone else think this opens up the potential for a ‘Danny Williams charity challenge’?

Either way, Danny’s comments about the worth of some university degrees – which you will be able to read in full in the August issue of Glass Times – will resonate with many window industry bosses who are struggling to find new employees that have the suitable skills or training.

And it seems that even the Prime Minister is in full agreement with Danny. Rishi Sunak has recently called on universities in England to put a cap on recruiting students to ‘low value’ courses, in attempt to reduce what he calls ‘rip-off’ degrees.

The news follows a government report into higher education that revealed 30% of graduates do not progress into skilled jobs or further study.

A big part of this will be the fact that government is not seeing a good enough return on investment for student loans. Sunak claims that the changes will save taxpayers from having to stump up billions of pounds to cover the fees of students who don’t earn enough to reach the repayment threshold.

But he is also arguing that universities are selling students a ‘false dream’ without a realistic prospect of a ‘decent job at the end’ and is pledging to ‘boost skills training and apprenticeships provision.’

The counter argument to this is that restricting university courses will negatively impact ‘the most disadvantaged in society.’ But if these courses are only resulting in high amounts of debt and no job at the end of them, surely an alternative form of higher education or training that returns a decent wage is a better solution?

As Danny says, ‘get yourself a trade, son.’