“Efforts to support more British people into work should be a priority of the government and all political parties in the run up to a General Election later this year.
“But the bottom line is that many British businesses are at breaking point because of labour shortages. REC data shows 1.7 million unfilled job postings last month.
“I have yet to meet a British employer that doesn’t want to invest in their talent pipeline and support job opportunities for local people. It shouldn’t be about picking winners or employing British workers over foreigners. It is about creating the right conditions for long-term, sustainable economic growth - and that starts by creating the right conditions for the UK labour market. We need calm and coherence across skills, health, transport, infrastructure, childcare, devolution and, yes, immigration policy.
“After all, our Overcoming Shortages report, shows a labour market restricted by skills shortages, could cost the economy anywhere between £30 billion and £39 billion per year. This figure is just short of building two whole Elizabeth Lines every year.”
