Skill worry as job market thrives

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Jobs have not been a burning issue in this election so far: possibly because unemployment in Wales is low and employment is high.

The labour market is buoyant with employment opportunities and vacancies are rising all the time.

In the past year there were more vacancies notified to jobcentres per head in Wales than the UK as a whole.

The assembly government says 140,000 jobs have been created since 1999. But we should not be complacent.

For while we may be creating more jobs, what kind of jobs are they?

We pay not just above local rates but above UK rates too because we are competing internationally for talent Shaun Oxenham, Enfis

For example, my quick tally of the past six months shows that Wales has lost more than 4,000 jobs in manufacturing as companies relocate operations abroad. These have often been relatively well-paid posts.

Are the jobs we are replacing them with as lucrative, are they sustainable and are they in the right place?

To answer the jobs question, a small hi-tech company in Swansea seemed a good place to start.

Enfis, which makes lights from silicon chips, is poised for the big time. It has just floated on London's AIM stock market and experts say there is a potential market for its products worth half a billion pounds.

Enfis develops 'semiconductor based light source modules and systems'

At its state-of-the-art offices at the Swansea Technium, it employs 26, but that will rise steadily, and most can agree these are just the jobs Wales needs.

Transport links

"We have very highly paid staff - we pay not just above local rates but above UK rates too because we are competing internationally for talent," said company boss Shaun Oxenham.

Importantly, these are relatively sustainable jobs - as the company began life in Swansea and has its headquarters and research and development there, there is a greater chance it will choose to grow there.

One company that has chosen not to stay in Wales is Burberry, the global fashion retailer with headquarters in London. It closed its Treorchy factory at the end of March, with the loss of 310 jobs.

So former Burberry workers know all about the current labour market in the south Wales valleys and it does not look good to them. One problem is that most of the jobs being created are in the coastal cities of Swansea, Cardiff and Newport and transport links to these places are inadequate.

According to ex-seamstress Joan Young, fewer than half of her colleagues have found work.

"There's no big employer left in the valleys now," she said. "It's very hard - it's either call centres, Asda or care."

The real challenge... is addressing the problems of the bottom 15-20% of society who need better education and training Calvin Jones, Cardiff Business School

She is getting work looking after the elderly, as is her friend Gaynor Richards, who said: "I think the assembly should stop companies going abroad so that we can get work near to where we live."

Creating local jobs is a challenge. Politicians cannot just tell businesses where to set up.

But one solution is to get more local people to create their own business. Mark Cunningham was on incapacity benefit for twenty years before a government scheme called "Want 2 work" helped him into self-employment, and he now runs a garage near Merthyr.

"It's brilliant," he said. "Being your own boss is great and I'm making loads of money!"

Self-employed Mark Cunningham in his garage near Merthyr Tydfil

He is also employing another three from the immediate area and has plans to grow. But self -employment is not for everyone, and Wales needs other kinds of jobs too.

Some 10,000 jobs have been created in the south Wales valleys in the past 10 years, but critics have claimed too many of them are in call centres, warehousing and retail.

However, some economists, including Calvin Jones of the Cardiff Business School, disagree.

"Every economy needs a mix of jobs,' he said. "Service jobs are often less well paid but they can still offer good prospects for people who have lower level skills."

"Unfortunately in Wales, we don't have enough people coming out of school with high enough qualifications to take advantage of the better jobs. The real challenge for a new assembly government is addressing the problems of the bottom 15-20% of society who need better education and training."

In other words, it is not just the kind of jobs we need to be looking at, but also the kind of workers we need to be producing.