1,000 responses for one job highlights skills gap

Saltaire-based Archerdale received nearly 1,000 applications for a blue collar job within five hours of posting it with Jobcentre Plus.

“It was a frightening exercise,” said Glyn Brown. “For me that shows the depth of the non-skilled people out there on the dole.”

Conversely, the demand for skilled workers is growing in the manufacturing sector.

But some industrialists are concerned that the region’s workforce lacks the skills to support growth sectors.

Mr Brown said a career in engineering might not be seen as “very sexy... but there is an industry there and it does become extremely interesting when you get into the technicalities of the job”.

Efforts are under way to plug the skills gap in Bradford, with business leaders hopeful that the Government will back the city’s ambitious bid to win control of skills funding to develop new training programmes.

“There’s been a dearth of manufacturing apprenticeships for 20 or 30 years,” said Stephen Wright, president of Bradford Chamber of Commerce.

“It’s only in the last five years that this has been recognised and there has been a will to resolve it, both in business and Government.”

His company Thorite, which supplies a variety of different manufacturing industries, has been experiencing growth for the last three years.

He has been investing in refurbishing his company’s estate and has opened a new office in Rochdale. “We wouldn’t be doing that if times weren’t reasonably good for us,” he said.

Stephen Lund, director at Advanced Components Technology, said the company finds it hard to find sales and engineering staff.

The company works with Skipton Girls’ High School to support engineering education.

The Silsden-based business supplies electro-hydraulic actuators and hydraulic components to the oil and gas, power generation and other industrial sectors.

Mr Lund said he expects sales to double to £3m over the next three years.

He added: “There is a lot of opportunity and we need to gear up to get our arms around it, which is extra people.”

Last year, Kawasaki Precision Machinery appointed the company as its UK hub distributor.

Britain’s manufacturing industry is enjoying a resurgence of sorts as politicians realise its potential to help rebalance the UK economy.

Mr Wright said: “There’s been talk about onshoring – manufacturing coming back from China and Indonesia – where people are really struggling with the length of the supply chain and the fact that prices have gone up significantly.”

The Chinese are taking notice and have started accepting smaller batch orders, he added.

Sandy Needham, chief executive of the chamber, said some businesses have highlighted quality issues with goods made overseas.

She said: “Something arrives and you can’t have it reworked because it’s got to be shipped back.”

Mr Brown, of Archerdale, said some customers require that contracts use parts from mainland Europe rather than China or India because of quality and traceability concerns.

Archerdale manufactures and distributes safety critical fasteners for a range of industries, including the railway sector.

Paul Mackie, vice president of the chamber, said Bradford has bid for a share of a £350m Government fund.