No-one I know in the joinery industry is too concerned as to when the economists formally declare this a recession; they’re too busy working on getting through 2009. The impact of the credit crunch seems to vary: the tighter a business is bound into the private housebuilding market, the tougher it is, but many of those working on refurbishment or commercial projects are still busy and expect to be so for some time. Few think they will come through unscathed. But, while confidence is low, some take the philosophical attitude that a slowdown in workload gives them a chance to prepare for the upturn that will inevitably come. The first thought seems of processes and accreditations, but I believe we ignore the future of training and skills at our peril.
ConstructionSkills’ 2006-2010 blueprint forecasts that 11,000 people need to join the woodworking industry every year in order to meet demand. That might look a bit ambitious, but the fact remains that only half that number are being recruited annually. As difficult economic times bite, there is a real danger that this will drop further as companies pare back their operations and start to see apprentices as an unproductive expense. However understandable, it’s an attitude that just stores up problems for the future, with a lack of skills and people when the industry needs them most.
The British Woodworking Federation via its Woodworking Industry Training Forum (WITForum) continues to do everything it can to encourage members to recruit and train apprentices.
Members have benefited from grants available through ConstructionSkills and grant-aided apprenticeships have increased by nearly 20% this year.
We’re working to make it easier to find apprentices through our website-based apprentice matching scheme, where employers can register their apprenticeships and work placements, and have set up a UK-wide register of colleges offering courses.
This industry is still living with the legacy of the collapse of apprenticeships in the 1980-82 recession, with a gap in the number of workers in their late 40s. Do we need to be taught this hard lesson a second time – that without a continuing commitment to apprentices and training, they just will not be there when the industry needs them?
